The Cat Queen
by DisneyandTMMLover
Summary: A TMM version of The Lion King with Ichigo as Simba, Ryou as Nala, Deep Blue as Scar, and our three fav aliens as the three hyenas. Not a Ryou/Ichigo fanfic, I promise you that. Sorry Ryou/Ichi fans. Rated T for swearing, just in case. This is also a story come back from the dead with a new account! See profile for details
1. The Queen and Princess

**A/N: Good day, readers. As you know, I love Disney and TMM, or more specifically, I love movies and TMM. Every time I watch a movie, I just instantly imagine the TMM characters doing something like this and I like the ideas I come up with. I hope you do too.**

**My casting is simple:**

**Sakura – Mufasa**

**Ichigo – Simba**

**Ryou – Nala**

**Mint – Zazu**

**Deep Blue – Scar**

**Lettuce – Pumba**

**Pudding – Timon**

**The three hyenas – Sardon (Pai), Tart (Taruto), and Kish (Kisshu)**

**Just a note, I'm a Ichigo/Kisshu fan.**

**I do not own TMM or its characters or the movie. I hope you all like this and don't hate me for it. Please enjoy.**

Ch. 1: The Queen and Princess

The Mew Mew Land…

A place of beauty and peace. Where the grass is green, the trees are strong and healthy, the water is cool and clean, and there's balance between the carnivores and the herbivores. In this land is ruled by two kinds of beings. There are the animal beings and the cyniclons, or aliens. Animal beings are beings that have two kinds of forms. They have a form of an animal or the form humans with the features of their animal selves. A lion being can look like a lion one form and the next they can look like a human with cat like eyes, long claws, ears, and a tail. A fish being could have the choice of having two forms like many animal beings or they can combine both forms to have a third; a form with them looking like humans but with the legs and tail of a fish, a mermaid. Cyniclons have only one form. They appear human but their ears are pointed and long. No other animal beings have the ears of that of a cyniclon. Besides their looks, the two races can also be determined by their abilities. Animal beings have the abilities and appetites of that of their animals and they can perform what many would call magic. The cyniclons' appetite is a bit similar to those of carnivores. There are some who would eat the flesh and meat of just about any animal and there are those who would prefer to eat what the earth grows. The cyniclons also have similar abilities that could also be considered magic. They can fly, attack, and they can create what is called kirema animas. However, creating such one is strictly forbidden.

_Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]_

_Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]_

_Nants ingonyama bagithi baba_

_Sithi uhhmm ingonyama_

_Ingonyama_

_Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]_

_Ingonyama_

_Ingonyama nengw' enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]_

_[Chant repeats]_

Today in the Mew Mew Land, as the sun rises up to begin a new day, the sun also comes up to a new rule. The Mew Mew Land has, and always had, a ruler to keep protect the balance between carnivores and herbivores. The last ruler of the Mew Mew Land, a male, died without an heir to take his place. So for the good of the kingdom, there was a tournament inviting all who wish to become the next Mew Mew Ruler. A tournament in which only the strongest, cunning candidate would be chosen. That tournament has passed now and the Mew Mew Land once again has a new ruler and today, the animal beings and the cyniclons will crown and welcome this new ruler.

As the sun continues to rise, unleashing beautiful shades of orange and red throughout the sky, animal beings and cyniclons awaken to this new light and they begin their journey to the Mew castle, where their ruler shall be crowned and be presented to them in all of her glory.

_From the day we arrive on the planet_

_And blinking, step into the sun_

_There's more to see than can ever be seen_

_More to do than can ever be done_

_There's far too much to take in here_

_More to find than can ever be found_

_But the sun rolling high_

_Through the sapphire sky_

_Keeps great and small on the endless round_

The Mew castle is no ordinary castle. Instead of looking like a giant bolder piled against each other or castle created from stone bricks, accompanied with towers and flags; this castle looks almost high tech but is energized with the solar energy of the sun. It's a castle that's appears to be in a diamond shape with a short upper half and long bottom half. There are squares of mirrors or solar discs all over the castle. The energy that the solar tiles collect is energy for the caste to hover several feet above the ground, but only one third of the energy that is collected is used to help support it while the other two thirds of it is stored for emergency uses; such as a long rainy period and the sun hasn't shined for weeks on end. Up close, many can tell that the energy is what's helping support the castle but from afar, many will mistake the four stands supporting the castle. But those long silver stands do nothing but puncture the earth and lean towards the castle. A bit of a decoration item to the castle it might be. Another decoration item of the castle is the white square plates circling the top half of the castle with hundreds and hundreds of yards distance away from the castle. Finally, the last decoration item of the castle is the giant boulders surrounding the castle. Those boulders are there as a sense of protection and as the stepping ladder for anyone to go in and out of the castle. The nearest door to the bottom is far off the ground and only those who could fly can reach it. The boulders are there to help. The ones who constructed this magnificent castle were the cyniclons.

The cyniclons and animal beings, mostly, come from far and wide to come to this magnificent castle. Some cyniclons live in the castle as royal subjects and they come out to see their new ruler. Since the cyniclons made this castle, it's only natural that there are some who work inside the castle to help keep it going. As they all gather, a small baby blue bird comes flying through the air, straight for the balcony of the castle. On the ground near that balcony is where the animal beings and the cyniclons are surrounding because it is that balcony where their ruler shall appear.

_It's the Circle of Life_

The baby blue bird flies to the balcony where a man is also ready standing. This man is a monkey being. He has long brown hair that's tied back into a low pony tail, his bark brown eyes are warm and full of joy of this glorious day, he has the furry brown ears of a monkey, and the furry brown tail as well. In his hand, he holds a staff with what appears to be hollow dried shells of fruits tied to it on the top. He's wearing long dark brown pants with black flaps on his shoes and his lighter brown shirt with red trimmings is a long sleeve Chinese top that touches past his knees and has a slit on both sides of him, rising up to his hips. Besides this monkey man is a counter with a red pillow on top and on that red pillow are two crows, one bigger than the other and decorated with fine crafted jewels. His brown hair and his clothes flap in the wind from being so high up and he looks down at the people of the Mew Mew Land with a smile similar to that of his eyes, full of warmth and joy for today.

_And it moves us all_

The little blue bird comes flying to him and he notices. He raises his hand and the bird lands on his fingers. He smiles at the bird and leans his staff against the rail of the balcony. He uses his now free hand to gently pet the bird before it flies off his hand and lands on the ground few feet away from him.

_Through despair and hope_

_Through faith and love_

The once small blue bird glows blue and its body enlarges and changes to look of that of a human child. The child now before the monkey man is an adorable girl with wings on her back as a way to show that she is a bird being. Her hair is, like her feathers, a dark shade of blue and it's up in two buns, one bun on each side of her head. She has big, dark brown, intelligent, classy eyes on her face. Her skin is clear and smooth and it's an olive color that compliments her blue hair and brown eyes. From the look of her, she could be only five or six. She's wearing a blue dress and a fancy one for a special occasion such as today.

As this bird girl looks up at the monkey man, she returns the warm smile with a smile of her own. The man turns to the counter and takes the smaller crown. He then passes it to the girl and she steps back, to the other side of the balcony and she looks at the closed doors on the side of her. The man looks at the doors as well and they wait.

_Till we find our place_

Then the doors begin to slowly open, causing many to have their eyes brighten with excitement and for their smiles to widen in joy.

_On the path unwinding_

_In the Circle_

_The Circle of Life_

When the doors fully open, there are only two people standing there – an adult and a child. The adult holds on to the child's small hand and the child holds the adult's hand as well. They step out into the light for Keiichiro and Mint to see. When they were out, the sunlight reveals the adult to be a female cat being and for the child to be her cat daughter.

The adult has short fiery red hair, hovering over her shoulders as if it were a red halo. Her milk chocolate brown eyes has the warmth, care, and gentleness of a mother and the wisdom and strength of an independent woman. To her daughter's touch, her hand is as soft as clouds and as warm as the sun shining above her. It's a comforting warmth and her mother's touch is what's giving her the confidence to be on a balcony in front of millions of animal beings and aliens. The adult's daughter has inherited her beautiful features. She too has fiery red hair but it's a little longer and it's tied back in two ponytails, one on each side of her head, and she has big milk chocolate brown eyes on her adorable face. On her head she has black cat ears and black cat's tail, while her mother has orange cat ears and orange strip cat tail.

The monkey man goes to other crown, the bigger one, and he holds it before the cat woman. She looks at him and bows down so that he could place the crown upon her head. It's a little big since it's a king's crown but she doesn't have to wear it all the time. The cat girl looks at the bird girl and the bird girl excitedly walks over to her. The cat girl bows as well and the bird girl places the princess's crown on the girl's head, trying to mind her big cat ears and her pigtails.

The bird girl asks, softly, "Can't you for once put your hair down so I can fit the crown on your head?"

Hearing her, the monkey man tells her, "Mint, don't be rude to our princess."

Mint made a face before looking back at her princess and says, "I'm just saying." The cat girl just stares at Mint with shy eyes.

Then the cat adult stands up and tells the monkey man, "Thank you, Keiichiro."

Keiichiro bows and says, "My pleasure, my lady." Then he turns to the front of the balcony and walks to the edge for everyone to see him. He raises his voice and yells to the crowd, "People of the Mew Mew Land, I present to you our new rulers! Queen Sakura and Princess Ichigo!"

_It's the Circle of Life_

Everyone below screams in triumphant. The cyniclons scream and cheer at the top of their lungs, even the women and children are getting all excited. The animal beings on the other hand are unleashing their animal cries. The cheetahs, jaguars, panthers, and lions roar, the elephants blow their trunks, the monkey scream and screech, the birds cry, the zebras, cantaloupe, giraffes, ox, and yaks cheer and stomp the ground with their hooves. Some of these animal beings are already in their animal forms or some are just about turning into them because of all the excitement.

Keiichiro and Mint step back as Sakura and her daughter, Ichigo step forward to the rail as well. Sakura looks down at her daughter and tells her, "Wave to your people, dear." Obeying, Ichigo raises her free hand and she waves at the people below. As she continues to wave, her shyness melts away and a friendly smile appears on her face. She starts waving more excitedly at her people.

_And it moves us all_

_Through despair and hope_

_Through faith and love_

Then the most surreal thing happened. The blue sky with its fluffy white clouds causes the sun to shine through the clouds and it shines on both Sakura and Ichigo like a spotlight. Seeing this as well causes the people below to silence their cries and to bow before their new rulers. Even Keiichiro and Mint from behind bow down to Sakura and Ichigo, even though they won't be seen. It's still respectful to bow even when they're not looking.

_Till we find our place_

_On the path unwinding_

_In the Circle  
The Circle of Life_

Finally Sakura calls out, "My people! Please rise!" Obeying, everyone gets up from their bowing positions, including Keiichiro and Mint, and Sakura tells them all, "Today does not just belong to me or to my darling daughter. But it belongs to all of us. In place of our deceased king, I promise to lead this kingdom with wisdom and a caring heart. Yesterday, I was just like you, living the lives you do now. Today, I am a queen and I will do my best. But I can't do it alone. I need your support and your help to make this magnificent kingdom even more magnificent. Will you help me?"

Answering, the people below start up their screaming and cheering once again. From behind, Ichigo hears Mint cheering as well and looks over her shoulder to see this. While the people were distracted, Sakura turns to Keiichiro and he steps closer to her. She asks in a softer voice, "Any news yet?"

He answers, "Not yet, my lady. The search party's report will be arriving shortly."

Sakura feels a bit unsatisfied, hearing this but she nods anyway and says, "Very good." Then she turns back to her people with a carefree smile back on her face. She raises her free hand for silence the cries and cheers dies down. "However," she tells them, "there is one rule that I wish to change before we do anything else. I am the first ever queen of the Mew Mew Land that will rule without a husband by my side. My husband died many years before our king joined him. I loved him with all my heart and still do, which is why I refuse to remarry because of the royal law. The change I will make is that any gender, male or female, will rule this kingdom when their time has come. When it is my turn to say goodbye to this world, my daughter will take the throne as your new ruler, rather or not she is married to another. There should be equal rights to all, no matter what gender we are or what animal or what race. Inside, we are all same. There's not a whole lot of difference between a man and a woman. So let's this new rule with equal fairness to all!"

Again the animals and the aliens cheer and scream for the new rule which they hope will be just as glorious as Sakura promises it would.

XxX

In the late afternoon, a small little mouse comes running out of a small dark hole in the boulders. It comes running out on all fours, sniffing the ground left and right before standing on its hind legs. The little mouth uses its paws to clean and comb through his hair. Then he smells something. He raises his nose to sniff the air and he smells danger coming. He quickly begins to run away but a hand quickly grabs him and lifts him up into the air, holding him by his tail. It struggles and squeals as best as he can but it's no use. He's captured by a cyniclon man who stares at it with ice cold, light blue eyes.

The cyniclon man is sitting on the hard boulder rock floor as if he's been sitting there this whole time since the mouse came out. He wears a long blue coat with long sleeves and the buttons buttoned from his neck to his waist. He has short blue pants on to match but it's hidden away from the length of his coat, which is long enough to barely touch the ground if he stands. His skin is strikingly pale but it compliments his long, raven black hair that is just as long as his coat. This man appears bored and tired as if the world no longer holds any excitement for him as he stares at the squirming rodent in his hands.

"Life is not fair, is it?" he asks. "For you will never see the life of another day and I will never be king. Pity." Then he raises the mouse over his head and opens his mouth to devour this helpless creature. The little mouse yelps as he sees the open mouth and he sees the sharp fangs of his capture.

"The world is fair to those who don't sulk around, Deep Blue" he hears a small girlish voice say. Deep Blue closes his mouth and looks to the side to see Mint looking at him with angry eyes and her arms crossed in front of her chest with her fingers tapping in impatience.

"Why if it isn't Mint," he says, still bored lowing his catch to the ground while still having a grip on his captive, who is now still trying to run away. "Pray tell what brings you here to visit me?"

"Not that I have a choice," she tells him, rudely. "I'm here to announce that Queen Sakura is coming to see you and she expects an explanation of why you were not present in the crowning ceremony."

"If my dear sister claims to have a caring, understanding heart that she told those people she has, then she should know why I didn't attend." Because he's being distracted with the bird girl in front of him, he didn't notice the mouth going to his fingers and then biting him. "Ow!" he yelps, barely a whisper. He lets go of the mouse and it runs away, back into his hole. Deep Blue watches it go before telling Mint, "And now I lost my lunch. I'm sure hope my sister will understand why you are no longer here." Hearing that causes Mint to tense up in hear. Deep Blue now looks at her with the eyes of a predator.

"Now, now Deep Blue," she tries to say, stepping back but he moves closer. "Let's not be rash here. I'm still just a kid." Then she runs to the side to get away but Deep Blue grabs her leg and pulls her to the ground. Mint winces in pain before Deep Blue pulls her to him and wraps his arms around her to keep her in a strong lock. She stares up at Deep Blue in fear as now he's leaning towards her with hungry fangs and dripping saliva.

Right when he was going to bite her, "Deep Blue!" someone calls him. Deep Blue stops and looks up to the side to see Sakura looking at him with angry, you're-in-trouble eyes. "Release her."

Mint tells her, "Impeccable timing, your highness." After she said that, Deep Blue releases Mint and she takes a moment to recuperate herself. Deep Blue stands up as Sakura approaches him.

"Well, hello my dear sister. Tell me why exactly you have a baby bird as your right hand man?"

She answers, "Mint is by far the youngest bird within a hundred miles of land to have the sharpest eye and the sharpest ear for collecting the complaints and problems of our land. Her talents will be quite useful and I know she can handle the job."

"I see," Deep Blue says, now more bored than ever. "Then tell me what brings you here to visit poor, old, wretched me?" he asks her.

Again she answers, "I came to know the reason why you weren't there to congratulate me at the crowning ceremony. As family, we should support the other but you were nowhere to be found."

"Oh please forgive me, sister for I did not know it was today your grand ceremony took place. I thought it was seven days after the tournament the champion is revealed as the new ruler. Not three days. My mind must be failing me at last."

"Hmpth," Mint lets out in disbelief. Attention is turned to her as she turns to Deep Blue and says, "As sharp or dull your mind is, you should have been first in line to congratulate your sister and your niece!"

"Is it too late to be second in line, since I was in _second place_ at the great tournament? Then allow me to curtsy to my younger sister." He lifts up his coat and curtsy so that he can say, "Congratulations on defeating me in the tournament and becoming our new queen. I might also add that it was wise of you to change the laws of allowing any heir to take the throne and for making your daughter the next heir to the throne." After that, Deep Blue drops his coat and turns around to walk away.

Sakura calls, "Deep Blue, wait!"

But he tells her, "Oh I will wait, sister. Like how you waited for the opportunity to defeat me in a fight to the death match. You're heart is too kind." Then he walks away again, leaving Mint with a guilty Sakura. She looks down at the ground in guilt and Mint sees the sad expression her queen has.

"Please don't let what he says get to you, my queen," Mint tells her. Sakura looks at her and Mint goes up to grab her hand as a comforting gesture. "He's just upset that he was beaten by his younger sibling but that would heal with time. Just give him the time and space he needs."

Sakura lets out a sigh after hearing this child's words. "I know. But I worry for him. Would it have been better if I let him win?"

"Are you kidding?" Mint asks, in disbelief. "Queen Sakura, we need a strong, intelligent ruler to lead us! Your brother is smart but he's not as strong as you and your powers are far beyond his level, and aliens are supposed to have the highest power out of all of us."

Sakura now smiles at the little bird girl before her. "Makes you wonder how our mother gave birth to an alien and an animal being, huh?"

"It makes everyone wonder, my lady."

After a few moments, Sakura's smile dissolves away and she asks, "Tell me, Mint. Has there been any news yet?"

Mint knows what she's talking about and from the look of her expression on her face, what she has to say is not good news. "I'm sorry, my queen. But there is no sign of Kisshu anywhere. Our search parties have searched high and low for him but it appears as though he just disappeared."

XxX

At the castle's main doors, Keiichiro walks on the carpet after walking many stairs to finally reach the bottom. With his staff in hand, the sound of his footsteps and his staff clinging to the floor is the only sound in the room and it echoes. But right when he places his hand on the knob, he hears someone ask, "You're leaving?"

Keiichiro drops his hand and turns around to look over his shoulder and he sees a maiden standing close to the stairs looking at him. This maiden is one of exquisite beauty. Her skinny figure would make many adore her for her waist is skinny, her chest is not too big and neither is her hips. Her arms and legs are skinny like that of a dancer and her skin is perfect; clear, smooth, and soft. On her head are silver wolf ears and behind her is a silver wolf tail. Her hair just barely touches her waist and it's a dark shade of violet purple. Her eyes are the same color but they're like dark opal jewels on her beautiful face. She stares at Keiichiro with those eyes and they're staring at him with patience.

After staring at each other for a moment, Keiichiro's lips curl into a sad smile. "I'm afraid so, Zakuro."

Zakuro looks down at the ground for a moment before asking, "Because the kings of our past told you so?"

Keiichiro walks away from the door and he walks towards her. As he stands before her, he tells her, "Please do not sound bitter about them. They mean well."

"And yet, they're telling you to leave and go back to the sacred tree that's far, far away from here."

He doesn't like it any more than she does, but he still smiles at her. "Please understand, Zakuro. They warn me that something is going to happen and that I must watch from afar if I am to help and prevent from the worst happening to our queen, the people of the Mew Mew Land, and to you." He lets go of his staff and it leans against his shoulder as he uses both hands to grasp hers. "If anything were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself. If I fail in the mission the kings bestowed to me, I don't deserve to look upon your sweet face or our son's again." Then he kisses her forehead and she closes her eyes to relax in this sweet bliss of this bitter farewell.

When his lips parted from her skin, she looks at him and tells him, "Just promise me that once you complete your mission, you will return home, to our son and to me." This time when Keiichiro smiles at her, there is a hint of joy in his sorrowful smile. Then he leans closer and implants a sweet and gentle kiss against her lips. She returns the affection and the kiss ends moments later.

Keiichiro smiles at her again and he whispers, "I promise." Then he releases her hands. He grasps his staff and walks towards the door again. Zakuro watches him leave and at the door, Keiichiro opens the door only a little for a small streak of light to enter the room. He looks back at Zakuro and tells her, "Farewell, my love." Then he opens the door more and closes the door behind him when he was out.

"Farewell, Keiichiro." A small sneaky tear escapes Zakuro eye and rolls down her face in her sweet sorrow.

XxX

_Knock_

_Knock_

Hearing the knocking of her door, Ichigo quickly jumps off her bed and rushes to the door. She opens it and her mother is now standing before her, alone. Ichigo looks a bit excited and hopeful as she asks, "Mama, did you find him?!"

Sakura looks at her daughter in sympathy at her pleading state. "Ichigo…" She doesn't want to tell her daughter. She wants to lie and make her daughter feel good but nothing good comes from lying. "May I come in?" she asks. Ichigo nods and opens the door wider for her mother to come in. Sakura enters and tells Ichigo, "Let's sit down, okay?" Ichigo nods again. She closes the door and walks over to the bed with her mother and they both sit on Ichigo's queen size bed.

Ichigo sits beside her mother and she asks, desperately, "Mama, please tell me that you found him! Tell me that he's alright!"

This is just making all the more harder for Sakura. She looks back at her daughter and she grasps her daughter's hand. "I'm sorry, Ichigo. But we can't find him. We looked everywhere for him but he just simply vanished. He's gone."

Ichigo couldn't believe what she's hearing. "No!" she screams. "He's not gone! You're just not looking hard enough! He's out there and we have to find him before he's killed and eaten! Mama, please! Find him!" As any mother would do, Sakura pulls Ichigo into a hug and she hugs her close and tight while tears begin to whelm up in Ichigo's eyes and some begin to fall. "You promise! You promise as your first act of queen, you would every ounce of your power to find him!"

"And I will Ichigo," Sakura tells her daughter. Ichigo finally quiets down as Sakura tells her, "Like you, I believe that Kisshu is still out there, hurt and confused. That's why I don't want you to give up hope. No matter, what never give up hope to what you believe in no matter what anyone tells you! You understand me?"

Ichigo nods in her mother's arms. "I understand." Then she starts sobbing, unable to control her tears any longer. Sakura still holds her daughter in comfort as being one of the only things she can do right now. But despite what Sakura told Ichigo, on her face, she too is having doubts about a boy who's been missing since his father was killed in a tournament match.


	2. 6 Years Later

Ch. 2: 6 Years Later

It's been many years since the crowning of the new ruler, Sakura and her beloved daughter, Ichigo. And so, it appears as though the promises that Sakura made to her people she kept. She kept the balance between the herbivores and the carnivores and she used her wisdom to help those in confusion or in need of help. As the kingdom became more magnificent, Ichigo grew up to be a beautiful young animal being. For now, she's only 11 years old but her beauty showed no limit. Many have complimented that she is becoming more and more beautiful as their beautiful queen.

Then one day, before dawn approaches, Ichigo stands up before the windows of her room and she moves the curtains away to see the dark night sky slowly dying away as the sun comes closer and closer to reveal the dawn. Already dressed in a layer top which is a dark pink tank top and short pink top that covers her small, yet growing beasts and its sleeves dangle on her arms and a lighter shade of dark pink shorts that is five inches above her knees, the young princess cannot wait for the start of the new day for today is going to be an exciting day. After staring out into the world before her, Ichigo runs out from her room, her bare feet slapping against the cold marble floor, to a room a few doors away from her room. She opens the door and she sees her mother still asleep on her bed.

"Mom!" she calls, running to the bed. She shakes her mother and calls again, "Come on, mom! It's time! Get up, mom! Get up!"

Sakura squishes her eyes shut before saying, "It's not sunrise yet. Just a few minutes more."

"But by then the sun would be directly above our heads! Mom, come on!" Ichigo ends up throwing the covers off and she grabs her mother's tail. She still doesn't move, no matter how hard Ichigo pulls. Then she lost her grip and stumbles towards the wall, almost crashing into it in the process. Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. Ichigo runs to the bed and jumps, only to land on the bed and causing her mother to fly through the air. She awakens then and she falls on the bed to look at her daughter in surprise. Ichigo looks angry as she reminds, "You promised, mom!" Seeing the 'I won't forgive you' face, Sakura finally lets out a sigh and shakes her head.

"Oh, alright. Just let me change and meet me at the balcony doors."

Hearing that, Ichigo gains back her smile. "Hooray!" she cheers, jumping off the bed. At the door, she tells her mother, "Now hurry up, okay?" Then she leaves to give her mom some privacy. When her daughter left, Sakura smiles sweetly at the door she exited.

"It's good to see that smiling face of hers again."

Ichigo waits patiently at the balcony doors for her mother, walking back and forth as a sign of impatience for her mother's dilly dallying. Then her ears pick up the sound of footsteps and she looks up at the stairs to see her mother coming down to meet her. Her mother is wearing something a little similar to what Ichigo's wearing. But her top layered shirt with its dangling sleeves is longer and it's only a few inches shorter from where her bellybutton is. Also instead of pants, she has a short skirt that reveals her lovely, beautiful legs. She has no shoes like Ichigo, only the golden bracelets on her leg ankle. The colors of her clothes are also different from Ichigo's. Her top layered shirt is a bright red cover over a yellow colored shirt and her skirt is also yellow but it also has bright red trimmings on the end. Unlike her daughter, who has her hair up in her usual two pony tails, Sakura leaves her short hair alone.

Seeing her mother, Ichigo takes a few steps towards her and Sakura meets her half way. She gentle pets her daughter's head and Ichigo giggles at the warm touch. Then they walk to the doors and Sakura opens them to reveal the dawn drawing closer and closer. Only now, the dark blue skies is turning into a light shade of navy blue and the clouds above have purple shade. Soon the sky will be a lighter blue and the clouds will be pure white. But that is only after the sun rises up. Ichigo rushes to the rail and Sakura follows after her in a calm, easy walk. There they wait as the sun finally reveals itself, turning the navy blue sky into a bright shade of orange and the clouds to turn a deep shade of red.

"Tell me, Ichigo," Sakura speaks. "What do you see?"

Ichigo answers, "That's easy, mom! I see our kingdom."

Sakura nods. "That's right. Everything that the sun touches is our kingdom. It is our duty to take care of this land and to rule it with the wisdom of the ages and the heart of the angel."

As the sun rises up higher and higher, the land brightens the animal beings and cyniclons that were once sleeping so soundly, awaken to the light and continue with their daily duties of living. Ichigo and Sakura watch them from afar as the birds fly to the ground and gather food for their little ones and the antelope either choose to eat, socialize, or leap through the grassy fields.

"Ichigo," Sakura calls. Ichigo looks up and Sakura tells her, "One day I would no longer be able to rule this kingdom. When my time comes, the responsibility will be bestowed on to you as the new queen of the Mew Mew Land. Can I trust you to take care of this land?"

Ichigo nods. "I promise, mom. I'll rule this kingdom with the lessons you teach me and I will make you proud." Sakura giggles from her daughter's hyper nature.

"Good."

Ichigo smiles at her mom again and then looks out back to the kingdom before her. As she stares out, she notices something. Out in the kingdom, she notices one part of the kingdom that's dark with sharp pointy rocks blocking the sun light. It almost looks like a giant hole with a rocky fence.

"Mom," she calls. She gains her mother's attention and she asks, "What's that area over there? The dark, shadowy area."

Sakura looks at where she's talking about and she tenses up when she looks at it. Before Ichigo could notice her tenseness, Sakura answers, "That's beyond our borders, Ichigo."

"But it's kind a close," Ichigo points out, confused.

"Yes, but that place is a place you must never go to."

"Why?" Ichigo looks up at her mom and reminds, "I thought a queen gets to do whatever she wants."

Sakura's smile returns and she says, "There's more than getting what you want. Come with me." Sakura walks away, back inside the castle and Ichigo, now excited, follows behind. They close the door to the balcony and travel down the stairs to the front door. There, they exit out of the castle and climb down the giant boulders to land on the soft grass beneath them. Sakura continues to lead the way and Ichigo continues to follow her. "You see, Ichigo, there is something known as the circle of life. It's a cycle of how we all lived and it's the balance between the herbivores and the carnivores. A queen must protect that balance."

"But mom," Ichigo calls confused, "what do you mean by 'balance between the herbivores and the carnivores'? We're carnivores right, and so are the aliens that live with us. Don't we all eat the herbivores?"

"'We eat flesh' is more like it," Sakura corrects. "However, there is one more thing you must understand. When we die, our bodies become the grass and the herbivores eat the grass as we eat them. That is what the circle of life is. If there are too many carnivores and the food dies down for the herbivores, then they will die and soon there won't be any food for us to survive. As queen, we must make sure that there is a balance." Then she stops, causing Ichigo to stop. "However, that is usually a king's job." Sakura kneels down and pets her beloved daughter's head as she says, "But we don't have a king and we don't need one at this time. We are strong, independent women who can take care of ourselves. We don't need a man to take care of us and we don't need a man to help us run a kingdom. Don't you think I do the job just fine?"

Ichigo nods. "Yes, mom. When I'm an adult, I'll rule this kingdom without a man. I can do it all by myself forever."

"But remember one thing, Ichigo," Sakura tells her. Ichigo looks at her mom in confusion as she stands up straighter. "I want you to be happy and running a kingdom by yourself is lonely. I do want you to find a man, not to take your job, but to keep you company as you live, to support you, and be there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on."

After hearing this, Ichigo figures that she gets that. She smiles even more joyfully and says, "Don't worry, mom. I don't need to find a man to do that. I already found one and when he comes home, we'll always support the other." Even though it was suppose to make Sakura even more proud, it actually surprised her and made her a little sad. She knows who her daughter is talking about.

"My queen!"

Both Sakura and Ichigo look up and they see a blue bird flying towards them. Both of them knew who this little bird is, even before it lands on the ground and transforms into her human form.

"Well good morning, Mint," Sakura greets.

The now 11 year old Mint stands before the queen and princess and she bows in respect. "Good morning, Queen Sakura. And you too, Princess Ichigo." Ichigo could hear the snobiness in Mint's voice when she greeted her. It actually made Ichigo a tad bit annoyed and insulted. Mint stands up straight and says, "I'm here to give you the morning report, my queen."

"Go on then."

"Well…" Then she starts her absolutely long and boring report on what's happened in the first ten minutes of the day. Ichigo got bored the minute Mint muttered the first word. She looks up at her mom and she's intensively listening to the report, for reasons Ichigo does not understand. Ichigo looks back at Mint and Mint's looking up at the sky as if she's trying to remember every detail. But her not looking at Ichigo gives her an idea. A wide, devilish grin appears on Ichigo's face. Quickly but silently, Ichigo backs away from her mother's side and she goes somewhere else.

"…Also, the vultures claim to have a friendly lunch with some animals but if you trust me, I think not one of those guests will be coming back alive." Then…

_Bam_

Ichigo pushes Mint from behind and causes her to crash into the ground as her hands pin her down. Sakura was first surprise to see her daughter pouncing on Mint but when she realizes that her daughter was pouncing and she did it rather good, she couldn't help but laugh in amusement. Ichigo, glad to hear her mother's laughter, gets off Mint and walks over to Sakura in victory. Mint pushes herself up and she looks really upset with the dirt smudges on her face.

When Ichigo was right in front of Sakura, her mother compliments, "That was very good. You even caught me by surprise. You've been practicing, haven't you?"

"Of course," Ichigo answers as Mint stands up and brushes herself off, still upset. "Mint has been helping me a lot. I didn't want to hurt her but she was so eager to volunteer I couldn't say 'no'." Hearing this lie, Mint grows in anger with a rather big vein on her head. "I've also been practicing my other tricks too! Like my 'Strawberry Check', my 'Strawberry Surprise', and my 'Mew Power Extension'!"

By Mint's feet, a little mole comes digging out from under the ground to the surface. "Mint!" he calls. Mint looks down and the mole reports, "I have news from the underground."

"'Mew Extension' is a power, yet difficult spell to learn. I suspect then that you've mastered your blinding spell as well, right?" Sakura asks. Hearing this, Ichigo tenses up like she's been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

She looks away, embarrassed as she says, "Well, not really. That's a hard spell to master."

"Well then let me tell you something."

But before she could say anything more, she was interrupted by Mint calling, "My queen! Kirema animas in the Mew Mew Lands!" The moment Sakura heard kirema animas, she jumps up into the air, flying over Mint as her body glows red and she transforms into her animal form, a lioness.

Before she leaves, Sakura orders, "Mint, take Ichigo home."

"Mom!" Ichigo calls, stepping closer.

But Sakura tells her, "Just go home, Ichigo. I'll be back soon." Then she turns around and sprints into a run to go kirema anima hunting. Ichigo watches her go, concern written all over her face. Mint looks at her princess and she sees this.

"Don't worry, Ichigo," Mint tells her, getting her attention. "You're mother is a very strong animal being. If she wasn't, she wouldn't be our queen. She can take care of those horrid creatures and their slobbery, mangy, stupid creatures. You don't have to worry about a thing."

"I know," Ichigo tells her. "I just don't like it that people leave. Sometimes, they don't come back." Hearing this, Mint knew exactly what Ichigo is talking about. She looks down at the ground in guilt and sorrow for her princess.

It's been six years since the Mew Mew Land crowned their next ruler and it's been six years since he disappeared.

Then Mint lightly slaps Ichigo's back, getting her attention back as she says, "Come on. Let's go back to the castle like your mother said. I need to wash off anyway."

Being reminded of that, Ichigo regains her friendly, hyper self and teases, "You were such an easy target and you deserved it for that rude greeting you gave me."

"Doesn't mean that you can smash my face into the dirt! I'm going to need a bath." Then a tiny fact appears in her head and light bulb shines over her head. "And you need one too, my princess."

Ichigo tenses up in fear this time when she heard that as now Mint has the wide, devilish grin on her face and a dark aura surround her in the background. "Uh, yeah well about that," Ichigo tries to say, her face sweating. "I..I…I have somewhere to be! Bye Mint!" Then she quickly runs away.

"Ichigo, hold on!" Mint jumps up into the air and flies as Ichigo is running with her super cat speed to get away. "You're not running from me this time!"

XxX

Behind the giant boulders surrounding the Mew Mew castle, Deep Blue is sitting there under the shade on a small boulder and he examines a bone of an animal he ate not too long ago. After a few minutes, he tosses the bone in front of him and lets out a sigh of complete boredom. While he sits there, a window of the castle opens up and Ichigo comes climbing out and she closes it behind her. Then she jumps off without a hint of fear or concern for her well being. As she falls to the ground, she sees Deep Blue not far from where she's going to land.

"Uncle Deep Blue!" she calls, happy to see him.

Hearing her, Deep Blue looks up right when Ichigo lands on the ground actually right next to him. She lands on her feet, unharmed and impact of her weight hitting the ground after falling from such a far distance causes dust and dirt to go flying everywhere. When it returns back to the ground, Deep Blue coughs from the dust and first and his eyes are tearing up because some of it went into his eyes.

Hearing him cough, Ichigo looks at him in concern and asks, "Are you alright, Uncle Deep Blue?"

Deep Blue stops for a moment and answers, "Just peachy." Then he coughs again to get the last bits of dust out of his lungs.

Ichigo then excitedly says, "Hey, guess what! Guess what!"

Finally finished coughing, Deep Blue looks at her, still bored and now annoyed, and sarcastically says, "Oh do tell me." She didn't notice the sarcasm.

"Mom just showed me the whole kingdom and she says that when I'm queen, I'm gonna rule it all when she retires."

"Joy," Deep Blue says with a completely dead voice. Then he asks, "Did she also tell you about having someone with you while you rule? I'm sure she told you how difficult the job is to do alone. It's a miracle my dear, sweet sister can do it, but can you?"

Ichigo answers proudly, "Of course I can! I am a strong and independent woman! Mom told me so."

"But the job can be lonely," Deep Blue tells her. "Every queen must have a king. Who would that be? You must find one as soon as you can while you're young."

Now Ichigo is getting a bit upset with her uncle. "I don't need to find one. I have one."

"Well let me rephrase my question, then. Who are you going to pick who's alive?"

After that question, Ichigo's eyes widen in a rather hurt way. Deep Blue just struck a rather sensitive subject. She looks away from him, upset and orders, "As princess, I command you to drop the subject." Deep Blue stares at her for moment after hearing that command. But never the less, he gets off his sitting rock and bows down before her.

She looks at him as he says, "Please forgive me, princess. I will speak of it no more." Then he grasps her hand and brings it to his lips to kiss.

After a moment, Ichigo regains her smile and says, "I forgive you, uncle. We're family after all. We're all we've got."

Deep Blue smiles when he says this, but anyone could see, all but Ichigo, that the smile is a fake. "So your mother showed you the whole kingdom?"

Ichigo gains back her hypiness and answers, "Yep! It's absolutely amazing. I'm so lucky I'll be able to rule such a beautiful kingdom and it's all thanks to my mom."

"Yep," he agrees. "My sister is an amazing queen and no doubt, you would make a marvelous queen yourself." Hearing that compliment, Ichigo smiles proudly and now a wicked grin appears on Deep Blue's face. "Did she show you the rise beyond the northern border?"

Now hearing that, Ichigo's smile turns upside down into a frown. "No. She told me that I never go to that place."

"And she's absolutely right," Deep Blue agrees. "That place is no place for a lovable princess like you. It's a place for strong, brave animal beings like your mother."

Now Ichigo huffs, upset. "No fair she gets to go and tells me never to go there. I'm strong too, you know! And I'm brave! Tell me what's out there."

"Oh I really shouldn't," he tells her. "It's full of kirema animas and the outcasts who created them."

"Outcasts?" Ichigo asks, confused.

Realizing his slip up, Deep Blue covers his mouth. "Oops."

Now interested, Ichigo asks, "We have outcasts?"

Deep Blue lowers his hand and asks, "Your mother never told you about the outcasts?"

"No," she answers. "The only bad people we have, the kirema animas, are the only ones I know exist."

"Well you know that kirema animas are created by aliens, or cyniclons, such as myself, right?" Ichigo nods. "And you know that it's forbidden to make any if we are to keep the peace, right?" Nods. "Well outcasts are aliens who create those kirema animas and disrupt our peaceful and beloved Mew Mew Land. You can tell that they're outcasts from the silver earring they have on their ears. Supposed to be some fashion statement of some kind. Don't ask me why. I wouldn't know that since I'm not an outcast."

"Whoa," Ichigo couldn't help but say. Then she looks back up at her uncle and asks, "So is the shadowy area their secret hide out or something?"

"It's not only that," he answers, as if he's so into telling this child every dark secret he knows. "It's also an Elephant Graveyard." Realizing he did it again, he covers his mouth and looks back at Ichigo who now looks more excited than he did before.

"An Elephant Graveyard?!" she asks. "Cool."

"Oh how naughty I am," Deep Blue says dramatically. "Well as the future queen, you would have to find out about that place anyway sooner than later. Just promise me one thing, my dear niece." His arm wraps around her and he pulls her close to him so that his face is up against hers and he holds her close in a loveable, yet gentle way. "Promise me you won't ever go there. I don't think any of us could stand it if we lose you as well."

Ichigo melts under his hold and hugs him back as best as she could. "No worries. No one is gonna lose me."

"Good girl." Deep Blue lets her go and tells her, "Now go and find a new hiding place before Mint decides to check up on me."

Ichigo lets out a nervous laugh when she heard that. "Right. Good bye, Uncle Deep Blue." Then she turns around and runs away, to go back into the castle through the back door. As she leaves, Deep Blue watches her with an evil and wicked smirk on his face.

"Good bye, my dear naïve niece.

XxX

Ichigo creaks the door open to the baths and a big gust of steam hits her face like a hot punch. It took her a moment to regain herself before calling, "Ryou? Are you in here?!"

"Ichigo?"

Hearing his voice, Ichigo enters the bathroom and quietly closes the door behind her. The bath is rather big and it has several baths in it. There are at least five tubs with its own shower, two on each side and one at the back. The one at the back is where Ryou is. He's in the tube with a woman of incredible beauty washing him down, who just happens to be his mother, Zakuro. Ichigo sees another bath running next to Ryou and Zakuro but she doesn't pay any attention to that. As Zakuro heads for the bucket of water while Ryou is in the tub, Ichigo walks over to them.

"Ryou, I need to take you somewhere. There's this really cool place that you're going to love!" she tells him.

"Ichigo, I'm in a middle of a bath," Ryou tells her, right when the bucket of water hit his hair and washed the subs off his body. The water clears the subs off his beautiful sunrays hair and his white, black stripped ears, the bubbles clear off his brown tan skin, his white and black stripe tail straightens from the touch of the hot water on his skin, and his eyes close shut to make sure that none of the soup enters his sky blue eyes.

To avoid the water splashing on her, Ichigo backs away and cringes at the sight of it. Then she feels a wet hand grab her arm. She looks up and she sees Mint peeking out from the covered shower that's working as well and Ichigo has a sudden chill through her body when she sees Mint's wicked, victorious smile. "And it's time for yours as well." Before Ichigo knew it, Mint pulls her in and covers the scene with bath sheets so that Ryou wouldn't see.

"Ahh!" Ichigo screams as her clothes come flying out of the bath and on the ground. Both Zakuro and Ryou only watch as they continue to hear the struggle and Ichigo's cries inside. "No! Get off me! Let me go!"

"Not this time, princess! You're doomed now! You haven't had a bath in two days. That's disgusting!"

"I hate baths! In fact, I HATE water!"

Ryou looks up at his mother and comments, "She and I are basically the same species and I don't have a problem with water as much as her. What's up with that?"

About a few decades later, Ichigo and Mint were done and Mint felt pretty victorious as Ichigo was on the floor in defeat with a clean body and clean clothes on, which was basically the same thing as what she was wearing before. Mint has her hair back up in her two buns and she's wearing a lighter shade of blue dress that has on strap on her shoulder and the other shoulder is bare so that her bird wings can be visible without any discomfort. It's also short, like about three inches longer than her butt and on her feet is dark blue ballet dancing shoes. She also has blue wrist bands on both wrists with her hands on her hips.

Mint tells Ichigo, "You may be invincible, princess, but not when you're caught by surprise. You're reactions are too slow." Then she starts laughing like a snobby rich girl and Ichigo has a vein pulsing on her head.

Ryou, dried and dressed in a black buttoned sleeveless shirt with red trimmings and long white, slightly baggy pants, tells Mint, "You maybe the queen's right hand man but very soon, you're going to lose that job."

"In order for a kitty to learn," Mint starts, facing Ryou with a cocky smile on her face, "one must receive the whip before the candy." Then she laughs again and Ryou is just staring at her with a face that says, 'Okaaay'.

Ichigo pushes herself up and goes up Mint and tells her, "Alright, I'm clean and you got your revenge. Congratulations. Can Ryou and I go now?" Now Mint is looking at her like she's being rude.

Ryou asks, "And where are we going? I don't want to go anywhere that's a waste of my time."

"Trust me, it won't," Ichigo answers, turning her attention from Mint to him. "You're gonna love it. It's so cool!"

"And where is this really cool place?"

The three kids look behind Ryou to see Zakuro staring at them, waiting for an answer as she's folding the messy towels that she used to dry her son.

Now Ichigo is in trouble. "Oh a.." she starts, trying to figure out what to say. "It's a…around the waterhole."

"Okay, I am defiantly not going," Ryou tells her. "What's so great about the waterhole? And I thought you said you hate water."

Ichigo goes up to him and says through her teeth, "I'll show you when we _get_ there!" Then he got the message.

"Oh." Mint raises a brow at this as Ryou looks back at his mom and asks, "Mother, can I go?"

"Hmm. I don't know," she says.

Then both Ryou and Ichigo plead, "Please!"

"Then I suppose so."

"Hooray!" Ichigo cheers, jumping in the air in victory.

"So long as Mint goes with you."

That stopped the celebration party.

"Huh?!"

Zakuro explains, "I think it's rude to invite Ryou to go and not invite Mint when she's standing right there. If you want to take my son anywhere, you're gonna have to take Mint as well."

"But!" Ichigo tries to say, but Zakuro turns her attention to Mint.

"Mint," she calls. "Would you be so kind as to accompany these two children? They need to be supervised at this 'really cool' place."

Since she asked so nicely, Mint curtsies and answers, "I would be honored, Ms. Zakuro."


	3. Elephant's Graveyard

Ch. 3: Elephant's Graveyard

"Now hurry you two," Mint tells the two cat beings below her. "The faster we get to the waterhole, the faster we can leave."

Reluctantly, Ichigo allowed Mint to come with them. Zakuro is her mother's best friend and her lady in waiting so Ichigo basically has to do what she's told to do by her. Besides Mint doesn't want to go with them and play either. She only came because Zakuro asked her so nicely, that and she sort of admires Zakuro. Mint is flying in her human form in the air, thanks to the wings on her back, and both Ryou and Ichigo are walking together behind her. They can see the waterhole coming up and unless they get rid of Mint, they won't be able to go to Ichigo's really cool place.

Ryou asks Ichigo in a whisper, "Mind telling me what this really cool place is?"

Ichigo whispers back, "An elephant's graveyard."

"Are you serious?!" Ryou asks, almost shouting since that was a surprise.

Ichigo quickly tells him, "Shush! You think I want Ms. Responsible to hear? Besides, I thought you would be excited about this."

"I'm just surprised," he whispers. "I actually just thought of an idea on how to get rid of Ms. Responsible." Then he whispers her plan and now she's getting interested. She whispers something to him back and he agrees.

Hearing them whisper, Mint looks down below her and she sees Ichigo and Ryou talking and smiling at how they're brilliant plan is going to be such a big success. Of course, she can't hear the plan, mostly because seeing them talk made her a bit upset. She looked away with sadness flickering on her face for a moment before pushing it away. She flies forward a little so that she can turn around and glide down.

"Congratulations, you two," she says, landing in front of them, causing them to stop whispering, stop walking, and look at Mint in confusion.

"Congratulations for what?" Ichigo asks.

She answers, being her stuck-up self, "On letting the seeds of romance finally bloom on this beautiful savannah day."

"Seeds of romance?" Ryou asks this time.

"And if you ask me, it's about time you two started. You two are betrothed and those seeds had to start sprouting sooner or later," Mint answers.

"Betrothed?!" Ichigo asks, now shocked beyond belief as Ryou is just surprised. "You mean 'marry'?"

Now Mint is looking at her as if she's the stupid one. "That's usually what 'betrothed' means, princess. You're parents would be so happy when they hear this."

"Okay first off," Ryou starts, "yuck."

"Second of all," Ichigo adds, "I can't marry him. He's my friend, at times, and that's how it's going to stay. Third, the law says that I can choose who I want for a husband when I'm ready to be married. Not ready to take the throne! I don't have to be betrothed to anyone! And fourth, I've already chosen who I want to marry and it's not Ryou!" After she said that, both Ryou and Mint went silent. It wasn't that any of them were offended by Ichigo's declarations. It was the fact that they know what or who she's talking about. It made them feel pity towards her. Still keeping her strong, determined voice, "He and I promised each other and I refuse to marry anyone but him."

No matter how long it's been, she still believes that he's still out there. And actually, he wasn't the only one who went missing around that time. At least four other people went missing either before or shortly after he did.

After a moment, and feeling the need to change the subject, Mint regains her composure and says, "Although your mother is a strong queen, princess, you still need to find a husband so that he can support you and help you when you're trying to rule an entire kingdom. That or you're gonna have to find yourself a substitute who can do the job."

"Well like my mom, Mint, I won't need a husband to help me rule a kingdom. I'm gonna be an independent _king_ for a very, very long time!"

"King?" Ryou asks, now confused. "Don't you mean 'queen'?"

"Nope. 'King' because a woman can be a king of her kingdom as well and that's exactly what I'm gonna be."

"Oh joy to the world, then," Mint breathes out, now bored of this child's petty assertion.

Hearing that, Ichigo goes up to Mint and while she's pocking at her shoulder, she sings:

_I Just Can't Wait to Be King_

_I'm gonna be a mighty king_

_So enemies beware!_

Mint slaps Ichigo's away from her.

_**Mint**_

_Well, I've never seen a king of beasts_

_With quite so little hair_

Ichigo rolls her eyes at that. Just because she's a female cat and she has little hair when she's in her cat form, doesn't mean that she still can't be ruler of the Mew Mew Land.

_**Ichigo**_

_I'm gonna be the mane event_

_Like no king was before_

_I'm brushing up on looking down_

_I'm working on my ROAR_

Ichigo roars right in Mint's face and Mint had to walk away and turnaround from her horrendously bad breathe. She wobbly walks to a rock and leans against it.

_**Mint**_

_Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing_

Boht Ichigo and Ryou wink at each other before running past Mint, Ryou jumping over her and the rock. She had to duck when that happened.

_**Ichigo**_

_Oh, I just can't wait to be king!_

At the edge of the waterhole, Mint is there after flying through the air and lands in front of the two children who's the same age as her.

_**Mint**_

_(You've rather a long way to go, princess,_

_if you think...)_

_**Ichigo**_

_No one saying do this_

Ryou makes a funny face behind Mint when her attention is turned to Ichigo.

_**Mint**_

_(Now when I said that, I -)_

She notices and turns to Ryou, who stops the funny face right when she looked at him.

_**Ryou**_

_No one saying be there_

Ichigo makes a funny face this time.

_**Mint**_

_(What I meant was...)_

Mint sees that too and turns around, right when Ichigo stops.

_**Ichigo**_

_No one saying stop that_

Ryou makes another funny face and Mint sees that at the corner of her eyes

_**Mint**_

_(Look, what you don't realize...)_

_**Ichigo and Ryou**_

_No one saying see here_

Both of them make funny faces before jumping over Mint.

_**Mint**_

_(Now see here!)_

Of course, she ducks when that happens

_**Ichigo**_

_Free to run around all day_

Mint rubs her head from this craziness.

_**Mint**_

_(Well, that's definitely out...)_

_**Ichigo**_

_Free to do it all my way!_

Mint looks up and she sees both Ichigo and Ryou riding on ostrich like it's a horse. Now this is really ridiculous. Mint gets up and flies faster than the ostrich to get a head of them.

_**Mint**_

_I think it's time that you and I_

_Arranged a heart to heart_

_**Ichigo**_

_Kings don't need advice_

_From little hornbills for a start_

Ichigo and Ryou go a little faster and Mint doesn't try to go faster. She lands on the ground, right under a tree full of monkeys.

_**Mint**_

_If this is where the monarchy is headed_

_Count me out!_

_Out of service, out of Africa_

_I wouldn't hang about_

Then a monkey comes flying out a tree and almost lands on Mint if she didn't move out of the way when she could. "Ahh!" she screams, before running away.

_This child is getting wildly out of wing_

While she's running, the whole tree's worth of monkeys come chasing after her. Ichigo and Ryou are on the other side of the waterhole from Mint, jumping off the ostriches and hooping off from hippo to hippo.

_**Ichigo**_

_Oh, I just can't wait to be king!_

As Mint is still running from a herd of monkeys, a herd of antelopes and elephants come and join the party.

_Everybody look left_

The antelopes appear before Mint, causing her to stop and then change direction.

_Everybody look right_

The elephants block Mint's path this time and now she's surrounded.

_Everywhere you look I'm_

_Standing in the spotlight!_

Mint jumps up into the air and tries to fly away.

_**Mint**_

_Not yet!_

But an elephant grabs her and pulls her down to the mercy of the monkeys. The other animals start singing this time.

_**Other animals**_

_Let every creature go for broke and sing_

_Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing_

_It's gonna be King Ichigo's finest fling_

Ichigo and Ryou jump on top of an elephant and now all of them sing together.

_**Ichigo, Ryou, and other animals**_

_Oh, I just can't wait to be king!_

_Oh, I just can't wait to be king!_

_Oh, I just can't waaaaaait ... to be king_

After that, the other animals run away and Mint is being pinned down and harassed by monkeys who are either messing her hair to look for bugs, jumping on her body or are holding her down on the ground.

Now really annoyed, "Okay you monkeys, you have ten seconds to get off me! Ryou! Ichigo!" But there is no answer. She calls again. "Ryou! Ichigo!"

A few ways away from the waterhole and Mint, Ichigo and Ryou are laughing on how they just lost Ms. Responsible. They look back a few times to see if she's following them but with the monkeys keeping her occupied, which Ichigo was able to ask the monkeys to do so that they could escape, Mint is gonna be a while. When they were farther away, they stop and gave each other high fives.

"Yes, it worked!" Ichigo cheers. Then she rubs her nails against her shirt. "No need to thank me, Ryou. It was nothing."

"Oh, was I supposed to congratulate you for taking credit of my idea?" Ryou asks, sarcastically.

"It may have been your idea," Ichigo tells him, "but I pulled it off."

Ryou crouches into a pouncing stance and tells her, "Oh really?" Then he pounces on her and they start a friendly cat fight. They land on the ground and start rolling around. Then when Ryou has Ichigo pinned down, she quickly got out of it. She uses her hand to grab his side and push him off her. That way, she gets on top of him and has both hands on his wrists and both feet on his ankles.

"Sorry, Ryou," she says to him, "but only one person can pin me down and that's not you."

"Whatever," he tells her. "Just get off me." She does and she gets up feeling rather victoriously. He gets up and rubs his neck from rolling around so much. "At least you admit that you're not completely invincible."

"You're just a sore loser, Ryou."

Then he pounces on her again and they go rolling away to an edge. They tumble down, still laughing, not really paying attention to their new surroundings until they reach the bottom. At the bottom, Ichigo is on top of Ryou and she pins him down again.

"As I said before, you can't pin me down."

_Voosh_

Both Ichigo and Ryou look up and they see a small round, crater hole extracting steam. Ichigo gets off of Ryou in surprise as now they notice their surroundings. Somehow, the once clear blue skies are cloudy, dark, and grey. There isn't a shroud of grass anywhere. It's dry, hard dirt everywhere they look. Apparently they're in a ditch because if they climb up farther from the Mew Mew Lands, they would see bones. Already from down there they can see some skeleton pieces at the edge. When Ichigo was off Ryou and they both stood up, they climb up until they see a huge skeleton skull.

"Whoa," Ryou breathes out.

Both cat kids go to the skull's tusk as if it were a rail and they see a whole sea's worth of elephant skulls and white fog everywhere. Ichigo breathes out, "Double whoa."

"It's totally creepy," Ryou says.

"But isn't it great?"

"You know we're gonna get in big trouble for this."

"I know, but isn't it awesome?"

Ichigo and Ryou look away, smiling at this really cool place. "I told you you'd love it."

"Hey, wanna check if the brains are still inside the skull?" Ryou asks, pointing at the skull.

"Three pounds of meat that they're not," Ichigo bets.

Then someone appears before them from the sky, blocking their way. "You'll be lucky if you get any dinner after this, princess!" It's Mint looking really stressed out with her hair down instead of its two buns, it's messy, and she looks like she has bags under her eyes. "You two are to go back home now!"

"Darn it," Ichigo moans, seeing Mint before them. They've been caught.

"I don't think you understand the danger we're in now! We're way beyond the boundary of the Mew Mew Land," she tries to tell them.

"So fuzzy feathers is scared?" Ichigo asks, trying to tease the bird girl before her.

But Mint tells her, "It's Ms. Fuzzy Feathers to you, princess! We have to leave now or we'll be in really bad danger."

"Danger?" Ichigo asks, passing her and walking towards the skull. "My middle name is 'danger'. I laugh at the face of death! Hahaha!"

Then they hear more laughing that's not Ichigo's and it's coming out of the skull. The three children gasp and Ichigo instantly runs behind Ryou who's also behind Mint. They look back at the skull and they see three figures coming out of it; two coming out of the eyes and one coming out of the mouth. All three of them are cyniclons, which means that they have the big elf like ears, long fangs, claws, pale skin but their skin looks even paler than the ones in the Mew Mew Land, and they have cat like eyes with their skinny pupils. Out of the three of them, two of them are still laughing but all three have hungry eyes.

The one that came out of the mouth looks older than all of them. He could be on the buff side with his big, strong muscles on his arms, legs, and torso. But he is rather handsome with his dark, enchanting dark violet eyes but they appear emotionless, cold and hard. His hair is purple as well, almost Zakuro purple, and it's short except for the strands in front of his left ear. It's shoulder length and it's completely wrapped with a mucky green bandage. He's wearing a purple, short, sleeveless, turtleneck shirt that reveals his midriff. However, he has a dark purple clear material covering his midriff. His pants are black and long, he has black flats on, and his feet as well as his ankles are covered in the same murky green bandage he has on his hair. He has purple arm warmers on both arms and he has two long black ribbons hanging from behind his pants for the final touch.

The second oldest is not buff but he is well toned for his age. Anyone can see that as he's climbing out of the left eye socket of the elephant's skull. He looks just as old as Ichigo or maybe a year older. He has short dark emerald green hair, his hair strands in front of both ears are shoulder length and they're tied by a dark maroon bandage. Accompanying that green hair is big, amber golden eyes and compared to the older one, they have emotion in them and what they're telling the three children is that he's hungry and he just found dinner. He has a short, brown and black, baggy shirt that reveals his bare midriff. His pants are knee length and they hang on his hips. For shoes, it looks like he has a clothe covering his feet and a black string holds it in place. With the same color of bandage that he has on his hair, he has bandages wrapped around his arms and his shins. For the final touch, he also has the long black ribbons hanging from behind his pants as well.

The last cyniclon climbing out of the elephant's right eye socket looks like he could only be three years younger and then the second oldest. He's skinny but all he has on his little body is muscles and skin. He has short brown hair but with as much hair as he could, he has it up in two pony tails, almost like Ichigo's hair. He has golden eyes too but they're a darker shade compared to the other one. He has the same feeling of hunger pouring out of those eyes but they seem a little bit more powerful like he's the most starving one out of the three. He's wearing a short red, turtle neck shirt with a slit in the middle and a blue string tied at the top of the slit. It reveals his bare midriff and he has really short dark navy blue shorts on as pants. As for shoes, he doesn't have any. He's barefoot and he has a white bandage wrapped around his arms and shins.

The other thing that Ichigo noticed as she stares at these hungry aliens is that they all have a silver earring on one of their ears. Outcasts…

"My, my, my," the green hair one says, looking at the surprised, slightly scared children before him, "now what do we have here, younger brother Tart?"

The brown hair one, or Tart, answers, "Oh I don't know, older brother Kish. What do you think, elder brother Sardon?"

The three of them are brothers? They don't look anything alike.

The purple one, or Sardon, answers, "Children."

"Or rather a trio of trespassers!" Tart corrects, being right in front of them.

Mint tries to say, "Please excuse us, my good men. We came here by accident and we'll leave your land as soon as possible." She tries to push Ichigo and Ryou out of here but one of her feathers get pulled to stop her.

"Now you look familiar," the green hair, or Kish, says, realizing it. "You're Sakura's little flying stooge, aren't you?"

Mint removes his hand off her feathers and tells him, insulted, "I get that from her over there every days so don't push it, outcast."

Ichigo was surprise to hear that. So Mint knew this whole time? When Kish looks up at who Mint was talking about, he takes one look at Ichigo and his mouth starts to drool.

"Well aren't you delicious?" he asks, approaching her, pushing Ryou to the side. Ichigo steps back until her back is pressed against an elephant bone. He still leans closer to her, so much that he presses his hand against the bone next to her head and leans against is so that he could be a little closer to her. "You're a little too good to eat. How about we share these two and you and I can run off into the sunset? How about it, princess?"

Ichigo feels a bit disgusted after hearing that. She pushes him back and tells him, "First off, disgusting. Second, if you know who I am then you can't do anything to me. And third, I never heard of aliens eating cat beings."

"Honey," he calls her, much to Ichigo's disgust, "we eat anything with flesh. That includes cat beings like yourself. Also, I can do anything to you because you're on our land. Which includes this." Before she knew it, he grabs her face and pulls her towards him. His lips crash into hers and not only is she and Ryou and Mint shock, Tart and Sardon are too. Consumed by shock and disgust, all Ichigo felt was the need to push him away. So she did.

"Get off me!" she screams. He didn't seem to mind at all as she wipes her lips with the back of her hand.

He licks his lips and notes, "You really do taste good and you're a feisty one. I sort of like that."

"Well I don't like slobbery, mangy, stupid creatures like you!"

There was silence for a minute and Mint mentally slapped herself after she heard that.

"I have a feeling you didn't make that up on the spot," Kish says with a dry voice. His attention, as well as Tart's and Sardon's, turn to Mint as he adds, "Because you're not the first person to say that."

Mint tenses up when they all look at her. So they know that Ichigo got that from her, huh? Things are not looking good.

Mint looks up at the sky and she exclaims, "Oh my goodness! Look at the sun. Time to go!" She tries pushing Ryou to Ichigo and the three of them tried to make their exit. Until Kish steps right in front of them.

"There's really no hurry. We would love to have you stay for dinner."

Tart agrees while approaching them, "Yeah, we can have whatever's lying around!" Then he starts laughing.

"Hold it! I got one! I got one!" Kish tells him. "Make mine a cub sandwich! What you think?" Then the two of them started laughing at their own jokes. Then Sardon taps both of their shoulders.

"What, Sardon?!" Kish asks.

He asks them, "Did we order this dinner to go?"

Tart looks behind him and Kish looks confused. "No, why?"

Tart answers, yelling and pointing, "Cause there it goes!" He looks too and he sees Ichigo, Ryou, and Mint running away, deep into the skeleton mass.

As the three of them were running, they came to a cliff. Still they ran and when the three of them leap, hopefully to continue living another five minutes, Mint's body glows blue and she transforms into her animal form, Ryou's body glows white and his animal form becomes a white tiger cub, and Ichigo transforms into a black panther cub after her body glowed pink_(I know that Ichigo is really an iromote cat but bear with me here)_. In their animal forms, they can escape faster and Ichigo and Ryou are defiantly fast as animals. But as Mint was trying her best to fly away, someone grabs her tail feathers and pulls her back. Ichigo and Ryou, who didn't notice, kept on running until they thought they were a few safe distance away.

Ichigo asks while panting, "Are we safe?"

"For now," Ryou answers. Then he looks around and then notices Mint's disappearance. "But where's Mint?!"

While in a hole, there's a red light illuminating from it. Inside are the three outcast aliens and Mint who, in her small bird form, is struggling from Kish's hold. The reason that the hole is glowing red is because there's a boiler hole ready to explode.

"Let go of me, you barbaric beasts!" she yells, trying to kick her way out but Kish has a good hold on her wings as he widens them with his hands.

Kish ignores her and tells his friends, "How about we let the birdie have a bath? She looks so dirty."

Mint gasps insulted from that. "I resent that!" But Kish swings her left and right like she's walking to the boiler and pushes her in. Right before she could say anything, the boiler explodes and she goes shooting out like a rocket, heading straight for the Mew Mew Lands. But seeing her fly through the air as she screams, "AAAAHHH!" made Kish and Tart laugh like maniacs and it causes Sardon to laugh as well. However unlike his two brothers who are just letting it all out and rolling on the ground in their laughter, Sardon trying to hold it back as best as he could.

"Hey!"

The three of them stop laughing and look up to see Ichigo glaring and snarling at them in her animal form with Ryou right behind her. "Why not fight somebody of your own level?!"

"Is that you, pretty kitty?" Kish asks.

Now she's in trouble. "Oh no."

XxX

"AAAHHH!"

Hearing her scream, Sakura, in her human form, looks up at the sky as she was walking closer to the castle and she sees Mint flying through the air with a trail of smoke following her. Now that is usually not how she flies, especially when she's falling to the ground not far from where Sakura is. She rushes to the spot where she would and Sakura catches Mint right before she hit the ground.

"Mint?!" Sakura calls, surprise to see her like this. Mint coughs as Sakura asks, "What happened to you?"

"My queen," Mint breathes out, now surprise to see her. Quickly and panicking, Mint flaps her wings as if she were a humming bird and flies in front of Sakura's face as she tells her, "We have to get to the Elephant's Graveyard! Ichigo and Ryou are there and they're being pursued by three hungry outcasts!"

Hearing her, Sakura's eyes wide in both shock and fear. Then she starts running, passing Mint. Mint turns around just in time to see Sakura transform into her lioness form. She follows her queen as fast as she can since now Sakura is using her animal speed.

XxX

Tart becomes the first to jump out of the hole and try an grab one of the two cubs before him. But both Ichigo and Ryou turn around and run away before he could even touch them. But as they're now running to save their own skin, they run right in front of a boiler that just explodes. They stop, especially when they see the three aliens pop their heads out.

"Boo!"

Ichigo and Ryou widen their eyes and gasp in surprise of that. Seeing their expressions made Tart and Kish laugh before the three of them bare their fangs and hiss at them. Ichigo and Ryou turn around again to run.

They run bones of elephants and jump over cracks in the ground. They already know that those three aliens are following them and they're following them by running instead of flying through the air, which they're able to do but takes up a lot, a lot of energy and they're gonna need that energy when they catch up.

Ichigo and Ryou climb up a different elephant's skull and Pai was just about to grab Ryou when he slips from his grasp and both Ichigo and him end up sliding down the spin of the elephant. It was a bumpy ride and maybe if they weren't so terrified, they would be enjoying it. The spin curved up at the end and both Ryou and Ichigo went flying through the air, screaming in the process and they see the aliens catching up with them. They both land on a mountain pile worth of bones and they didn't hesitate to start climbing to the top if it, especially when they start to see a hole in the wall that the pile is leaning against. As they climb, the aliens come running in closer and closer.

Then Kish leaps into the air and flies up just a little so that he could grab Ryou's ankle and pull him down as he slides back down. Noticing that he's not with her, Ichigo looks behind and sees Kish pulling Ryou down.

"Ryou!" she screams.

When they stopped sliding down, Ryou looks up and he sees Kish's hungry eyes, his fangs, and his saliva dripping from them. Ryou tenses up and he remains paralyzed as Kish leans towards his flesh for a bite. Ichigo runs down as fast as she can, desperate to save her friend. She grabs his hand and pulls him away from Kish's grip. When Kish look up after Ryou left his view, Ichigo took that chance to use her claws and scratch his face as if she just slapped him. Both Ichigo and Ryou climb back up the hill and when Kish looks back up at them, he growls and his eyes are very angry and very dangerous. Okay, now she's dead.

Ichigo and Ryou climb all the way up to the top of the pile to where the hole in the wall is. They run in, hoping that there be several passage ways inside so that they can escape. But there's only one and it leads to a dead end. Ichigo and Ryou stop when they reach the end and they look up to see cloudy sky and some bones peeking out from the edge but the wall is too tall for them and there isn't anything near the edge that could help them reach the top. They turn around, hoping that maybe they can go back and find another path but they already see Kish, Tart, and Sardon blocking their path and taking slow steps towards them. They know the two cubs are trapped which means one thing, 'Dinner is served.'

Kish uses his thumb to wipe away the excess blood that's dripping from the scratch on his cheek and he calls, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." When he said that, he lost all cockiness and laid back tone in his voice. He's angry.

Ichigo and Ryou are up against the wall as the three outcasts come in closer and closer to them. Seeing that she doesn't have a whole lot of time, Ichigo quickly turns back into her human form and raises her hands up to face her palms at the outcasts. They stop walking as Ichigo closes her eyes and tries to concentrate. A small, white ball of light flickers before her palms and it glows but not very well. It dies and Ichigo opens her eyes to see that her blind spell didn't work.

"That was it?" Tart asks. Him and Kish snicker at that.

Kish dares, "Try again, kitty. Go on."

Only taking that offer because she's trying to save a life and hers, she closes her eyes and tries even harder. This time when a light appears, it was bright. So bright that the three outcasts had to cover their eyes to try and avoid blindness. What else was different about the light besides how big it got on the second time was the fact that it was glowing bright yellow as if the sun just appeared before their eyes. When Ichigo and Ryou open their eyes and look, they see Sakura gliding from above and tackling the three blinded outcasts.

_Roar_

The outcasts only had a second before they all became at the mercy of one very angry mama. Ichigo and Ryou watch in amazement as Sakura claws the aliens and knock them down as they try to fight back. Tart tried to jump on her but she used her paw and pulled him off.

"Ryou! Princess!"

Ichigo and Ryou look up and they see Mint flying to them and transforming into her human form before landing on the ground. Seeing that it's safe, Ryou transforms back into his human form as well and Mint instantly goes up to them in concern.

"Are you two alright?"

Ryou was able to answers, "Yes. Are you?"

She knows that he's mentioning that time she was shoot out of the outcast's territory, but she nods and answers, "I'll live." The three of them look back at the battle before them and they were just able to see Sakura standing over Kish, Sardon, and Tart who are now lying on the ground after being thrashed around so much.

Sakura snarls and growls at them as Kish tries to tell her, "Okay now, your highness, let's not be rash here."

Sardon adds, "This is all nothing more than a big misunderstanding."

"Silence!" she orders. The three of them flinch like little children and their pissed off parents. Great, they're scared of her.

"Got it! We're gonna be quiet right now. You know we're sorry, right?"

Then Sakura warns, "If you three ever come near my daughter again."

"Wait! This is your daughter?" Kish asks, trying to sound innocent. Now he's lying. "I seriously had no idea that she was your child. Sardon, did you know that?"

Surprisingly, Sardon shakes his head as if his life depended on it. "Nope. Never knew."

"You see?" Kish asks. "This was all just one big misunderstanding. Like Sardon said."

"Ah guys." Kish and Sardon look to the side where Tart is and he says, "We did, remember?"

That causes Sakura to roar.

_ROAR!_

Kish and Tart ended up holding each other because of that roar. That was way too scary. After a moment, Kish waves and says, "Bye." Then the three of them run out from under Sakura and run as fast as they can away from her with their tails between their legs.

After they left, the three kids let out a sigh of relief. They're gonna live, but now there's another problem.

Since there was no longer any danger, Sakura transforms back into her human form and stands up straight, still glaring at where those outcasts ran to. Mint goes up to Sakura and congratulates, "Splendid, my queen. Absolutely," but then Sakura looks down at her and now her eyes are as cold and angry as a month long blizzard. Mint ended up slowly finishing, "splendid." Then she hunches down as a sign of fear from Sakura's gaze. Seeing this reaction made Ichigo already scared for her life.

She approaches her mother with Ryou following and she tries to say, "Mom, I-"

But she gets interrupted when Sakura looks at her and yells, "You deliberately disobeyed me!"

Ichigo flinches from the volume and tone of her voice and she looks down in shame. "I'm sorry."

"Let's go home."

Sakura walks away and Mint becomes the first to follow her, her head facing the ground in shame as well. Ichigo and Ryou follow her and Ichigo looks really guilty. Ryou sees that and whispers in her ear, "I thought you were very brave. Thank you." Ichigo didn't say anything to that. She didn't feel like talking as they all walk out of the graveyard.

But high up at the edge of the cliff of where the dead end is, Deep Blue sits there and he has been watching everything from when Ichigo and Ryou stumbled in the graveyard to them now leaving it. The look on his face proves that he is not happy with the results of the day.


	4. Talk and Plans

Ch. 4: Talk and Plans

All the way back home to the castle, there was nothing but silence. It was the worst back home walk the kids ever had. Sakura was still angry and she didn't say a word to any of them. Ryou checked on Ichigo a few times and he saw that she still looked guilty. It was her idea that they go to the graveyard even after her mother told her not to go. Feeling guilty and ashamed were the natural reactions for what happened. Mint checked on Ichigo as well. She kept looking back and she saw Ichigo's expression. Despite the fact that Ichigo did trick her and put them in danger, she couldn't help but feel pity towards the young cat girl.

"Mint!" Sakura finally calls, stopping her walk.

Ichigo and Ryou stop walking as well as Mint quickly stands in front of her queen. She curtsies and shyly asks, "Y-Yes, my queen?"

"Take Ryou home," she orders. "I need to teach my daughter a lesson." After hearing that, Ichigo crouches down in the grass and her ears are flat against her head. The castle is right in front of them, about a few hundred feet away so the walk home won't be long to Mint and Ryou.

Mint quickly goes to Ryou and says, "Let's go, Ryou." Then she turns to Ichigo. "Princess, good lucky." After that, Mint and Ryou walk away and Ichigo watches them go, both of them looking back at her one more time before walking away to the castle.

"Ichigo!" Sakura calls. Ichigo flinches at her name but turns around and slowly and sheepishly walks to her mother. Her eyes glued to the floor and soon she sees the bare feet of her mother and her golden bracelet. She stands there next to her for a minute before daring a look up. She sees that her mother is still angry but she lets out a sigh to calm herself down and now she looks disappointed. "Ichigo, you know I'm very disappointed in you, right?" She even told her.

"Yes," Ichigo answers, nodding and looking back down at the ground.

"You could've been killed! I told you not to go there and you went anyway! You even dragged Mint and Ryou into it. They're just children, like you."

Now Ichigo has tears gathering up at the corner of her eyes. Some sneaky tears escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks as Ichigo ties to explain with a whiny, pitchy voice, "I only wanted to be brave like you."

Sakura explains, "There's a difference between being brave and looking for trouble. Only when I need to be brave am I brave. And I…" She lets out a sign and now she looks like she's preparing herself to what she has to say next. Ichigo looked up at her when that happened. "I needed to be brave today."

Ichigo sniffs before asking, "You did? Why?"

"Because," Sakura kneels down to look at her daughter in the eye and she puts on a sweet and loving smile, "I thought I was going to lose you, Ichigo. You are my precious little kitten and if I lost you, I don't think I could continue to run the kingdom. We're all we have left, you know."

Ichigo tries to smile, now that the mood has lightened up, and reminds, "But you have Uncle Deep Blue too, mom. He's your brother."

"True," she agrees. "But my brother isn't the one sneaking off to dangerous places and getting into trouble." Hearing that, Ichigo looks back down at the ground in guilt again.

"I am sorry, mom. I won't disobey you again."

"Well you're still only a child. You want to explore and cause trouble because you're curious. Besides," Then Ichigo sees something at the corner of her eye. When she look, she sees her mom in her animal form, "what's life without a little adventure?"

Now knowing that she's no longer angry, Ichigo quickly transforms into her animal form and pounces on her mother. Both of them laugh as Sakura gets up and Ichigo pursues her as she runs.

XxX

Meanwhile while Mint is escorting Ryou to his room, their walk was silent as well. Mostly because they were ashamed about what happened and how deeply upset it made Sakura and Ichigo feel. But the other reason is because Ryou was thinking about today and Mint was having a bit of trouble trying to bring up conversation. She didn't even know if she should after what happened.

"Mint, thanks."

Surprisingly it was Ryou who spoke first.

Mint looks at him and she's a bit surprise that he spoke first. He's even looking at her right in the eye and she asks, "F-For what?"

"For getting Queen Sakura," he answers. "We wouldn't be alive if you didn't get her."

This time, Mint turns a bit red. He's flattering her. "Well you know, it is my job to inform the queen at all times, especially when her irresponsible daughter is involved."

"Even though you say such harsh things about her, I know you don't mean them," he says. "You really care about Ichigo, don't you?" Mint's blush deepens.

"Well Princess Ichigo is still a child. She still has so much to live for and her life can't end now, at least not with the way things are."

Ryou knows what she's talking about and nods in agreement. "Yes. Not until we get the answers for their disappearance. His especially." He looks back at her and places his hand on her head, causing them both to stop walking. "But still thank you for saving us. You're hair actually looks really nice when it's down. I bet it'll look better if the monkeys didn't mess with it." When Mint looks back at him with her cheeks highlighted red, they deepen and her eyes widen in the beauty of Ryou's smile. She couldn't control herself with her next move. She goes up to him and she hugs him, her arms wrapped around him. He's startled by this as Mint's arms tighten their grip on her.

"I'm just glad you're safe," she tells him, her voice muffled by his chest.

His startlement relaxes and he hugs her back to reassure her. "I'm not going to say 'thank you' again because I already said it twice."

She slightly giggles from that. "It would be irritating if you said it again. It's alright. I know you appreciate it." She closes her eyes to snuggle closer to him and he still holds her, slightly enjoying this hug.

_Cough_

Ryou and Mint end their hug and look up to see Zakuro leaning on the door frame of Ryou's opened room and she looks upset. "Excuse me for the interruption but I need a word with my son." Now that was cold and both Mint and Ryou are left in the arctic after hearing that.

Mint looks back at Ryou and asks, "I'll see you soon."

He answers, "Hopefully." Then he calms down to tell her, "Goodnight, Mint." Then he walks to his mother and Mint watches him go as he enters his room and Zakuro first nods at her and then goes into Ryou's room, closing the door behind her.

"Goodnight, Ryou."

While inside as soon as Zakuro turns to look at her son, Ryou quickly says, "Mother, let me explain." But she didn't give him the chance. Instantly she hugs him and got on her knees to do that so that her arms could circle around his neck. He did not expect this at all. "Mother?"

Zakuro's hold tightens and he says, "Thank the kings you're alright." That made Ryou a little surprise. She was worried about him and judging by her hold and the fact that she's hugging him, she was terrified of his safety. It made Ryou feel a little bit more guilty for allowing himself to be put into danger.

"Forgive me, mother."

XxX

Both Sakura and Ichigo are on the ground, laughing and sweating from running around in their animal forms. Now they're both in their human forms and Ichigo lays on top of her mother. Then Sakura lifts herself up a little bit and kisses the top of her daughter's head. "Oh my sweet, sweet girl," she calls her. "After your father left us for the next life, you have become my only joy and my reason to keep living."

Ichigo smiles from the compliment as she gets up a little so that both her and Sakura can sit up straight. "As you have become mine," she tells her, "We'll always be together, right?"

After hearing that, Sakura's face drops a little but she quickly regains her smile and says, "My dear Ichigo, let me tell you something not only have my parents told me but also your father. Look up." They both do and Ichigo sees the dark sky full of white, sparkly stars. "They told me that not only are they up there but also the great rulers of our past are up there. The rulers and our loved ones watch down at us. So if you ever feel alone and lost, just remember that they are watching over you, as will I when it is my time."

Ichigo stares up at the starry night a little longer in amazement as her mom is doing the same but she looks up at the sky with happiness. But while Sakura stares up a little longer, Ichigo looks back down on the ground and she looks like she's trying to think about something. "Mom."

Sakura looks back at her daughter in confusion. "What is it, honey?"

"Do you think…" Ichigo tries to say. Tears gather in her eyes again as she asks, "Do you think that Kisshu is up there watching me?"

Sakura's eyes widen when she hear this. She didn't expect to hear about him, but hearing this is also means that Ichigo is actually considering that he really is never coming back. Her face reveals sympathy as she answers, "I do. But let me tell you a secret." Ichigo looks up at her mother this time as she explains, "There is an easier way to master that blinding spell. The only way to let your light shine brighter than any sun or any star in our sky is to think of your light. Every time I shine my light, I think of those who I care about. I think of my parents, I see my friends, I see your father, and I see you. I think of it as a way that all of those who I think about are lending me their strength. Even though you don't think you are, you are. Use the memories you have of Kisshu and use them to help you. As long as you think of Kisshu in here," she taps the forehead, "and here," she taps the heart, "he will always be with you, even when you can't see him."

Listening to this, Ichigo nods in complete understanding but she can't help the tears exploding out of her eyes and rolling down her cheek like an endless waterfall. Soon, she covers her eyes with her hands and she starts sobbing. "Waaaaahhhh!"

"Oh, Ichigo." Sakura pulls her daughter into her arms and Ichigo continues to cry, now allowing the disappearance of her friend to finally settle in. He is never coming back.

XxX

"Kish. Ki-i-sh! Kish!"

A bone goes flying through the air and its target became the back of Kish's head.

"Ow!" he yells, coming back to earth. He first rubs the back of his head before turning around to face Tart and yell, "What the hell did you do that for?!"

His little brother answers, "You were off in dreamland, I had to bring you back down to earth! What were you thinking about anyway?"

"That little cat witch," Kish answers. He brings a hand to rub his cheek that got scratched and mumbles, "I'm gonna eat her whole for doing this to me." Then he turns to his older brother, Sardon and goes up to him, asking, "How is it? Is there gonna be a scar?"

Sardon grab his face and turns it to the side to get a better look. After an analysis, he lets go and says, "You'll be fine. Outcast or not, you're still an alien and our wounds heal faster than animal being wounds." It's true. The marks now on Kish's face are nothing more than really light brown marks that are a smaller version of the scratches Ichigo gave him.

"Good," he exclaims after hearing that news. "Because once I eat that cat, I want to forget her existence all together!"

"And to think we thought you had a little interest in that princess," Tart says. "Our mistake. Oh well. You're still gonna remember her because she is your first kiss." Sardon nods in agreement.

"Oh shut up!" Kish yells both angry and embarrassed. "Sorry that it was my mistake that I thought she was cute. Now I see that she's nothing more than annoying."

Tart nods at this. "I couldn't agree more. I hate animal beings."

"They think they're so great because so far, not one alien has ever become the ruler of their stupid Mew Mew Land. That sounds so cheesy anyway! Whoever made that name up was more stupid then food dangling in front of a starving dog!"

"Not to forget that those animal beings look like freaks with their fuzzy tails and their fuzzy ears or their 'beautiful' wings."

Then Kish starts off, "Which makes them…"

Both him and Tart said at the same time, "U-g-l-y!" Then they both start laughing like maniacs again and like always, Pai laughs as well but tries to hide his laughter behind his hand.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

When the three of them heard that, they stop laughing and they look up to see Deep Blue sitting on top the edge of a hole in the wall as if he's been there the whole time. He has one leg crossed over the other, his elbow leans on his leg, and his hand cups his cheek as he leans against it. He looks just as bored as always. As of now, the four of them are in a huge crack in the ground with several walking trails around the walls and boilers all around going off every few minutes. The place is a little misty but it's durable.

Deep Blue adds, "Those animal beings are nothing more than disgusting creatures. Every last one of them."

After seeing that it's him, all three outcasts let out a sigh of relief. "Oh jeeze, Deep Blue," Kisshu breathes out, placing a hand over his own heart. "Don't scare us like that. We thought your sister came back for a second round."

Deep Blue sits up straighter and asks, "Don't tell me that you three are _afraid_ of my little sister?"

"Afraid?!" Tart asks. "Pfft! We're not afraid."

"'Terrified' is more of the word," Sardon corrects. Deep Blue raises a brow at that and Tart looks at his elder brother in disbelief.

Kish surprises him even more by saying, "For once, I agree with Sardon on this one. Sure she's not terrifying to look at, but facing her head on and you're done for."

"I see," Deep Blue says, listening to them.

"I can't believe you two!" Tart yells, facing them. He's got there attention as he boosts, "Sakura is not that tough! She's nothing more than some cat animal being that needs to know where her litter box is!"

"That explains the bruise you have," Kish goes up to him and points to his side, "here," he points to his opposite side shoulder, "here," and finally he points to his leg, "and here."

Tart reminds him, "A kitty has claws, Kish."

"You three are pathetic."

The three brothers look up as Deep Blue continues, "Even though it was my sister who finished you off, you three couldn't even dispose of my niece and her pack of friends."

"Well the next time we see them," Kish starts, "that little kitten isn't going to see the light of another day! I am going to devour her whole spit out her bones before you even notice she's killed."

"That won't be necessary, probably."

"Huh?"

Not only is Kish confused right now, but Sardon and Tart are confused as well.

Then Deep Blue looks to the side of him and says, "Here. You three will be needing your strength for what I have plan tomorrow." After that and as merely as if he just patted something to the side, he slaps a dead, animal body of a zebra off the edge so that it could land on the ground by the outcasts' feet. They were startled at first but realizing that it's food and meat, they dove right in and begin to devour it, thankful to the sweet, satisfying taste of the animal's blood and flesh as it rolls down their throat and into their starving stomachs. Deep Blue continues to just watch as the three bite, ripe, and chew the zebra until there is nothing but bones.

"Deep Blue," Sardon calls, done with his share. "What exactly do you mean by 'what you have planned for tomorrow'?"

Kish finishes his as well and asks with a partially full mouth, "And that there might not be a necessary to devour that cat princess?" Then he swallows.

Deep Blue answers, "Oh nothing more than the tragic death of my sister and my niece." After hearing that, Tart, who just finished his share, looks up at Deep Blue and the three of them look at Deep Blue in confusion. Then he pushes himself off the edge and comes gliding down to where the three of them are. Kish, Sardon, and Tart had to back away before Deep Blue landed on the bones and crushed them as if they were nothing.

_Be Prepared_

_**Deep Blue**_

_I know that your powers of retention_

He walks over to Tart

_Are as wet as a warthog's backside_

_But thick as you are, pay attention_

He grabs Tart's collar and hoists him up. Then he walks around him as he continues, all the while Tart tries to keep Deep Blue in eye view.

_My words are a matter of pride_

_It's clear from your vacant expressions_

_The lights are not all on upstairs_

Kish and Sardon stand together and watch as Deep Blue smirks and lifts Tart's face up while he has that evil look in his eyes.

_But we're talking kings and successions_

Kish giggles a bit, having a feeling of what's gonna happen next and Sardon looks at him from his giggles, but then Deep Blue is right in front of them, surprising them,

_Even you can't be caught unawares_

Kish and Sardon fall back in surprise and they're both on top of a burning boiler, which of course explodes as soon as they sat on it. They go flying through the air like a rocket. Normally, cyniclons can fly but that didn't even cross their minds at the moment as they fall back to the ground. Deep Blue continues.

_So prepare for a chance of a lifetime_

_Be prepared for sensational news_

_A shining new era_

_Is tiptoeing nearer_

Kish sits up after landing on the ground face first and he sees Deep Blue walking right pass him.

_**Kish**_

_And where do we feature?_

Deep Blue grabs his cheek and lifts him up by pinching his cheek.

_**Deep Blue**_

_Just listen to teacher_

He lets go and Kish is left to rub his cheek from that while Sardon stands up and Tart gathers closer to them. That hurt.

_I know it sounds sordid_

_But you'll be rewarded_

_When at last I am given my dues!_

He opens his palm and what appears to be a glowing jellyfish appears.

_And injustice deliciously squared_

He tosses it to the ground not far from him and then a giant monster appears and roars, kirema anima.

_Be prepared!_

Now the three of them are starting to get it.

_**Tart**_

_(Yeah! Be prepared. We'll be prepared!)_

_**Kish**_

_(For what?)_

Some people are slower than most.

_**Deep Blue**_

_(For the death of the king)_

_**Tart**_

_(Is he sick?)_

A lot of people are slower than most.

_**Deep Blue**_

_(No, fool! We're going to kill him. And Ichigo, too)_

_**Kish**_

_(Great idea! Who needs a king?)_

Both boys link arms and start twirling around as Sardon still only watches them.

_**Kish and Tart**_

_(No king, no king! La la la la la!)_

_**Deep Blue**_

_(Idiots! There will be a king!)_

They stop and now Tart is even more confused.

_**Tart**_

_(But you said...)_

_**Deep Blue**_

_(I will be king! Stick with me and you'll never go hungry again!)_

The three of them liked the sound of that.

_**Kish**_

_(Yay, all right! Long live the king!)_

They all opened their palms and dozens of jellyfishes, parasite aliens, appear.

_**Kish, Tart, and Sardon**_

_Long live the king! Long live the King_

They tossed them in the air and very soon, dozens and dozens of kirema animas started to appear. Soon, making them became enjoyable, especially to Kish. He loves making kirema animas. By their master's commands, they line up and start marching like army soldiers.

_**Kirema animas**_

_It's great that we'll soon be connected_

_With a king who'll be all-time adored_

Deep Blue looks pleased by this and he has the smirk on his face to prove it.

_**Deep Blue**_

_Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected_

_To take certain duties on board_

_The future is littered with prizes_

_And though I'm the main addressee_

_The point that I must emphasize is_

He opens his palm again and instead of another parasite alien appearing, a blue energy blast ball forms.

_You won't get a sniff without me!_

He throws it at the ground and almost like a volcanic eruption, the ground below them rumbles. It cracks and some parts of the ground rises, some higher than the others. Even some of the steam from beneath is unleash through those cracks. Deep Blue jumps up on one as it rises up higher and higher. The kirema animas _**(bold and italics)**_ jump on a few as well but Deep Blue's piece of ground still rises higher than theirs.

_So prepare for the coup of the century_

_Be prepared for the murkiest scam __**Oooooo, la-la-la!**_

_Meticulous planning __**We'll have food!**_

_Tenacity spanning __**Lots of food**_

_Decades of denial __**We repeat**_

_Is simply why I'll __**Endless meat**_

_Be king undisputed_

_Respected, saluted_

_And seen for the wonder I am_

_Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared_

_Be prepared!_

As the steam still continues to rise up from the cracks, Kish, Sardon, and Tart appear in it, partially using the released compressed air for extra effects purposes. It makes their hair and their clothes rise up and flap against their body and it made them feel a bit in powered. Also the lights of where the steam came from causes them to look really scary.

_**Kish, Tart, and Sardon**_

_Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared –_

_**Everyone one**_

_Be prepared!_

After that, Deep Blue laughs out into the sky again and his laughs expanded in volume with the help of the laughs of those of the kirema animas and the outcasts who created them. Tomorrow, they will set their plan into action. Tomorrow, Sakura and Ichigo will die.


	5. Stampede

Ch. 5: Stampede

"Now I want you to stay right here," Deep Blue instructs, placing Ichigo on boulder. It's the next day and Deep Blue takes Ichigo to a gorge. The stone walls are a hundred of feet tall and if you were in it, you can see the layers of rocks that piled up over the thousands of years. But that's not important right now.

Ichigo asks, "But why? And why are we in the gorge? Shouldn't the herd start coming in soon?"

Deep Blue reminds, "Not unless something really surprising happens, my smart niece. The reason why I brought you here is because your sweet mother asked me too. She told me to bring you here because she wants to give you some magic lessens. Mostly protection spells but this will be a good chance to work on your blinding spell. It didn't work well when you were attacked by the outcasts, correct?"

Ichigo jerks up and asks, "You heard about that?!"

"Ichigo, Ichigo, everyone knows about that. Good thing that your mother was there to save you."

Ichigo looks down in shame as her ears lower and she says, "I guess."

Then Deep Blue pets her head and tells her, "With today's lessen, she will be able to teach you how to defend herself. After all, your mother can't be there for you forever." Deep Blue leans towards her forehead and gives her a small kiss on her forehead. "Now I am going to go get her. If I were you, I would try to work on that little spell of yours. Making her proud might help add some sugar to the situation. Good bye." Then he turns around and walks away.

Then Ichigo asks, "Can't I come with you?"

"No!" he answers. He turns his head to look over his shoulders as he asks, "What did I just say, Ichigo?"

Ichigo's ears flatten again as she mumbles, "Fine, I'll wait."

"Good girl." This time when he took off, he takes off into the air and flies up over the stone walls. There, he uses the back of his hand to rub his lips after kissing Ichigo.

Meanwhile, there's a herd at the top edge of the gorge and it's a herd of wildebeest beings. Some of them are in their animal forms to eat the grass while others are in their human form to socialize with their fellow animals. But why they are perfectly calm together, Kish, Tart, and Sardon are behind a boulder, watching them. Taruto is drooling since he's the only one looking at them as Kish and Sardon are leaning their backs against the giant rock.

"Man I'm hungry!" he complains.

Sardon tells him, "Contain yourself, Tart. Skew ups will not be allowed. We must not fail Deep Blue this time."

Tart whines, "Yeah I know but I'm really hungry."

"Come here!" Kish tells him, using his arm to wrap around Tart's neck and bring him close. Kish says, "All we have to do is wait for the signal and then we can try and grab one of the sick ones. I spot a big fat one over there." Taruto looks where Kish is talking about and he too can see a slow fat wildebeest being in his animal form. Kish then ruffs his hair and tells him, "Just be patient, squirt."

Tart pulls Kish's arms off him and tells him, "Don't call me squirt!"

Then Sardon sees something at the corner of his eyes. He looks and sees Deep Blue walking by. He tells them, "Look." They did and they see Deep Blue walking calmly back to the castle. They watch him walk, waiting and soon Deep Blue moves his eyes to look at them.

"And there you go!" Kish notes.

Sardon turns to them and says, "Let's go."

"Finally!" Taruto exclaims, licking his lips.

While that was happening, Ichigo is still sitting on the boulder and she lifts up each of her foot one at a time in boredom. She grumbles, "Little spell, huh?" She stops her foot thing and lifts her hands up. She separates them by at least four inches and concentrates.

The light that comes up only flickers. She lets out a sigh in frustration and tries again. "Come on, come on! You can do this! You're the princess, right?" She concentrates again and the light appears but it only lasted longer before becoming a flicker again. She drops her hands and yells, "Darn it!" She exhales quickly before mumbling, "I need to get this right! I need to get this right!" Ichigo looks up at the blue sky and thinks. She also tries to remember what her mother told her last night.

"_**The only way to let your light shine brighter than any sun or any star in our sky is to think of your light. Every time I shine my light, I think of those who I care about. I think of my parents, I see my friends, I see your father, and I see you. I think of it as a way that all of those who I think about are lending me their strength. Even though you don't think you are, you are. Use the memories you have of Kisshu and use them to help you. As long as you think of Kisshu in here and here, he will always be with you, even when you can't see him."**_

In the blue sky above, she sees the fluffy balls of clouds fly through the air. But she knows that beyond the clouds and the blue sky, there is a darker sky and stars. She thinks, _'Kisshu, you're watching me right? Like what mom said?'_ She looks down at the ground and closes her eyes to try and remember all of those times she had when Kisshu was still here.

How he always pinned her down no matter how hard she tried or new method she thought, how many friendly fights they're always in, at least twenty a day, how he was learning pressure points and hand-to-hand combat with his father as she was learning magic from her mother, how he also hated the water, how much trouble they used to get in with each other, most by scaring other animals or knocking big boulders down a hill towards other animals, and how they both made a promise to one another when both of their parents were in the great tournament.

_Flashback…_

_Ichigo declares, "My mommy is so gonna kick your daddy's butt!"_

_Kisshu tells her, "Not unless my papa hits kicks your mama's butt first!"_

"_Not a chance! My mommy is super strong!"_

"_My papa too! Augh!" Then he jumps on her and they both start getting into another friendly fight. They roll all around the ground, until finally Kisshu has Ichigo pinned on the ground. "Gotcha!"_

"_Get off!" she yells, pushing him off. Which he allows her to do since it's obvious that he won. But right when he wasn't looking, she jumps on him and they get into another friendly fight. Only for Kisshu, to once again, pin her to the ground. She tries to get up again, but he pins her back down._

"_I win again, koneko-chan."_

That used to be his nickname to her. He's been calling her 'koneko-chan' since they were babies.

_Ichigo got fussy as she asks, "How is it that no one else can pin me down but you can?!"_

"_Maybe it's because I learned from the best and the best is my papa!" Ichigo continues to try and lift herself up but with Kisshu on top of her, she's stuck there. Until he decides to get off her. She glares at him for a minute before he offers his hand to her. She takes it and he helps her up. "Besides," he starts, "if papa becomes king of the Mew Mew Land and me a prince, I'm gonna announce you as my princess."_

_The moment he said that, Ichigo's cheeks become as red as a male's animal being's mane._

"_Come on, Kisshu," she tries to say, looking down to avoid his gaze, "stop joking around. We're friends."_

"_I know," he tells her, making her look back up at him. "But you're my best friend and you're the only person who I want to see every day, and not just because I can pin you down any time of the day." Ichigo glares at him for that and he laughs. "But still, Ichigo, do you think I can be happy with any other girl than you? No. Can you be happy with any other boy than me?"_

_Ichigo's cheeks get red again and she wants to say no, to show that she won't give in easily but because of the gaze in his eyes. The deep depths of his eyes, she couldn't lie. She's hypnotize and she answers, "No." How easily it felt to say it. Her answer causes the smile to brighten on his face and the joy to grow in his eyes. She ends up smiling and says, "We're similar in so many ways and you're the only one who can beat me in almost anything. You help me strive to be better at what I can do. Do you know any other guy who can do that?"_

"_Then it's a promise! If my papa wins, I'll make you my princess."_

"_And if my mommy wins, I'll marry you and you'll be my prince."_

_Kisshu sticks out his pinky finger and Ichigo wraps it with her own. They both recite, "Cut your finger and promise, break it and you'll have to swallow a thousand needles! It's a promise!" They both giggle after they were done._

_Then Ichigo quickly says, "But don't kiss me now!"_

_Kisshu tenses up when he heard that. He quickly tells her, "Oh heck no! I don't want your germs now."_

"'_Germs' huh? Come here!"_

_Then she pounces on him and they both get into another friendly fight._

…_end of flashback._

Ichigo opens her eyes and she looks at the hand she made the pinky promise with. If he's really gone, then that promise is broken.

Then she lifts both hands up again and puts them in the same position as before. "Come on, Ichigo! Just once at least." She concentrates with all her might, thinking of the people who light up her life and instead of a small light appearing and flickering, a big light appears, surprising her. The light grew bigger and bigger until it fills up the whole gorge. Minutes later, the light began to fade back to size before disappearing and Ichigo is on her back, off the boulder. She sits up and lets out, "Wow!" She looks back up at the sky and mumbles, "I did it! Did you see me? Thank you, Kisshu."

_Rumble_

_Rumble_

Ichigo looks confused as she can feel the rumble beneath her. She looks to the side and she sees the rocks jumping up and down from the vibrations. She starts to panic as she looks up at the edge and she sees a cloud of dust in the air. Seconds later, she sees wildebeests running off the edge and down the stone wall, much to her horror. She gasps in shock and some of them started to land on the ground and run. Ichigo didn't waste any time getting up and transform into her animal form so that she can start running for dear life. It was a good thing that she wasn't on the boulder because some of them decide to either jump over it or climb over it.

On the top, the big fat wildebeest is trailing behind the group and Taruto is after that one. Kish and Sardon on the other hand are too busy running after the others and trying to comp on them or claw them. Some of those that were in their human forms change into their animal forms and started running to get more speed. Taruto pounces on the fat one and it tumbles down. It tries to struggle but Taruto uses his claws to slice the throat open. Slowly but surely, the wildebeest dies with its blood oozing out of the throat and Taruto's smirk widens in hunger. He chomps on the meat and begins to feast. Kish and Sardon chase the last wildebeest to the edge and they watch as the wildebeest continue to run as fast as they can and they see Ichigo running as fast as she can.

Kish starts laughing. "Haha! The little kitten is going to get over!"

"A job well done," Sardon notes, smirking from the success of the mission. Both of them turn around and they see Tart eating on the dead wildebeest.

Kish calls, "Hey, Tart!" He looks up from eating, his mouth covered in blood. Kish asks, "You gonna share?"

"Well get over here if you're hungry! Geeze." Both Kish and Sardon rush over to the dead body and choose a piece. They open their mouths to reveal with long, hungry fangs and they chomp down to eat, devouring flesh, skin, organs, and all, besides bone.

"Lady Sakura!" Mint calls, pointing behind her. Sakura turns around and sees the cloud of dust coming from the gorge and rising up to the sky. Mint notes, "The herd is moving."

"So early in the day?" Sakura asks, confused.

"Sakura!"

Both Sakura and Mint look away from the gorge and they see Deep Blue flying towards them. He lands on the ground and pants. He's on his knees and he looks like he tried his best come here. Sakura rushes to his side and asks, "My brother, what's wrong?"

"Quickly," Deep Blue tries to say while panting. "In the gorege…stampede…Ichigo's there!"

"Ichigo?" Sakura asks confused.

Mint gasps in surprise and quickly tells her, "My lady, we need to go!"

Sakura turns to her and nods. "Right!" Then both her and Mint go running or flying off to where the gorge is, Sakura and Mint transforming into their animal forms. Deep Blue watches them go for a bit. During that small time, he smirks in delight. Everything is going as plan.

His smirk disappears and he goes flying off with them.

Ichigo is running for dear life in the gorge. Her legs and her paws ache and her lungs burn inside her chest. She's breathing in and out through her mouth and the stampede is gaining up on her. Every fiber in her body is telling her to run and she's doing her best but she can't run forever. In the distance, she sees a tree and it's tall enough to not be in the stampede's way. The only problem is that it's skinny. That doesn't matter to her because right now, that tree might help her live to see tomorrow.

Ichigo runs up in the direction to the tree and leaps. She lands on the bark and starts to climb up before the stampede could hit her. She climbs to the top and holds on. Because the stampede are running pass it, the tree is shaking and she doesn't know how long it's going to hold her.

'_Someone, please! Help me!'_

On the cliff, bones became visible on the dead wildebeest body. Taruto at the neck and the head, Kish ate the stomach, and Sardon at the back legs. Then they all heard something; two of them didn't think much of it.

"KISSHU!"

Kish snaps up into the sitting position and he's shock to hear that. Seeing him up, both Tart and Sardon look up. Tart asks, "Hey, Kish, you okay?"

Then it happened again.

"KISSHU, HELP ME!"

This time, Kish did more than just get up. He started flying towards the edge at top speed after he got up. Tart didn't move fast enough as Sardon gets up and tries to catch Kish. Before he could reach the edge, Sardon grabs Kish and they both crash into the ground. Tart still watches as Sardon gets up first and grabs Kish's collar. Kish is confused as Sardon yells him, "Kish, snap out of it!" He even punches him across the face to see if that would help.

Kish took a moment before he looked back at Sardon like he just woke up from something. He uses his arms to lift himself up and Sardon lets him go. But he watches intensively if Kish decides to try and run again. Kish looks deeply confused as he asks, "What the hell was I just doing?"

Sardon explains, "The hunger was getting to you. You started to hallucinate."

Seeing that everything is alright, Tart exhales and turns back to his meal. He starts feeding as Sardon tells Kish, "You need to eat before you lose it again and before Tart eats the whole wildebeest."

Kish licks his lips, tasting some of the blood that's still on his face as he agrees, "Of course."

As Ichigo continued to hold onto the tree, shutting her eyes in the process, she didn't see Mint flying through the air, looking for her in the stampede. When she found her on the tree, she quickly rushes to the tree. "Ichigo!"

Ichigo opens her eyes and she sees Mint flying towards her. A flicker of hope appear on her face before it became fearful when the tree shook again. "Mint, help me!"

Mint, arriving in front of the princess, tells her, "Your mother is on her way! Just hold on a little longer!" Then she goes off to fly towards the wall of the gorge.

Sliding down the wall, or flying down from the gorge, Sakura and Deep Blue come down and they land on a platform a few feet above the stampede. Both of them look up and down the gorge for any signs of Ichigo's whereabouts. Then Mint flies up to them. She points to Ichigo with her wing and yells, "Over there, on that tree!"

Sakura and Deep Blue look and they see Ichigo hanging on the wobbly tree. Sakura yells, "Ichigo, hold on!" But she can't. A wildebeest hits the side of the tree with its antlers, causing the tree to crack.

Ichigo screams, "EEEEEYYYYAAA!"

Not waiting any longer, Sakura jumps off the platform and runs with the stampede to get to her daughter. Mint and Deep Blue approach the edge a little and they watch Sakura run towards the cracking tree. Mint starts to panic.

"Deep Blue, what do we do?!" she asks, basically screaming. She even grabs his collar and says, "We have to do something!" She lets go when she realizes what she needs to do. "Go and get help! Gotta go back and get help!" Then she starts to fly off but a small blue blast hits her right in the back and makes her crash right into a wall. She falls to the ground unconscious and Deep Blue glares at her in annoyance.

"Pesky little bird."

He looks back at the stampede and watches as his sister tries desperately to reach her beloved daughter.

Ichigo sees her mother running further up ahead to get in front of the tree. She slides her way in front of the tree's path and starts running to the tree. However, as she runs downhill against an uphill crowd, she crashes right into a wildebeest. The wildebeest runs on but Sakura stumbles on the ground from the sudden hit. She looks back up at the tree right when another wildebeest hits the tree and breaks it completely. Ichigo goes flying through the air.

"AAAHHH!" she screams, looking down at the ground that awaits her and the stampede tramping all over it.

Right when she was gonna land, Sakura leaps into the air and grabs Ichigo with her cub in her mouth. Then she starts running to a reach able platform further up. Since they're moving away from his view, Deep Blue walks around the higher platforms to keep a close watch. While the outcasts eat their reward, Deep Blue is left to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Sakura keeps running and running to find a place where she can put Ichigo down for safety. But then another wildebeest hits Sakura right at her head and causes her to let go of her daughter. Ichigo rolls on the ground, thank goodness that none of them ran her over, and when she sits up, the first thing she does is look up to see a wildebeest getting up on its back legs. It's front legs are gonna stomp on her. Ichigo does the first thing she could think of. She puts her paws up in defense and uses her blinding spell to distract the beast. It works and the wildebeest takes steps back. Ichigo continues to watch in horror as another wildebeest hits that standing wildebeest. Right when it was going to crush Ichigo, Sakura grabs her again with her mouth and takes her away. She carries Ichigo again and this time, she sees a platform coming up and it's in reach. Sakura runs towards it and jumps up to land at least half of her body on the edge. She puts Ichigo down and Ichigo turns around to look at her mother in concern.

They're panting, both of them – one out of running so much and the other for being so scared. Ichigo becomes the first to return to her human form and she asks in concern while grasping her mother's paw, "Mom?"

Sakura soon returns to her human form as well and she squeezes Ichigo's hand in returns. She smiles as warmly and gently as she could as she tells her, "I'm okay, sweetie. You did it. I knew you could find the light." Ichigo only had a second to listen to her mother's words and see her beautiful smile before Sakura was knocked away by the wildebeest. Her hand slips from her grip and her eyes follow her mother falling into the sea of the stampede.

"MOM!" she screams. Then all she could see is the endless numbers of running wildebeests and no sign of her mother. Her eyes scanned all over, her heart thumping and pounding within her chest, begging and hoping that her mother is alright. But the more she looks and the less she sees her, her chest begins to be filled with panic.

Then all of a sudden, the body of a lioness comes sprinting out of the stampede and onto the stone wall not too far from Ichigo. She smiles at the sight of her mother alive and well as she begins to climb up the stone wall where there is another platform she can climb on for safety. Ichigo watches, so happy to see her mother alive but when Sakura nearly slip, Ichigo flinches and the worry comes back. Her mother needs help so she turns around and starts climbing up the pile of rubble that's between her and higher grounds.

As Ichigo quickly tries to get her way up so that she may help her struggling mother, someone is already at the edge looking down at Sakura as she's only a few ways away from the edge. Sakura looks up when she notices somebody and she sees Deep Blue looking at her.

"Deep Blue!" she calls. Then her slides but her claws, still gripping the wall, only allows her to slide a few inches down. "Brother, help me!" She's struggling, he sees that and it's a long way drop. It couldn't be any more perfect.

Deep Blue does go down and grab Sakura but he uses one hand to grab the skin on the back of her neck. Sakura only had time to cringe as his hand glows blue and he reverses her form. Now she's in her human form and Deep Blue has his hand gripping her hair. He helps her up so that they can be face to face and while she looks at him in confusion, he's looking at her with wicked eyes and an evil grin on his face.

"Long live the queen."

Sakura's eyes widen in disbelief and Deep Blue lifts her little sister up a little more before tossing her back into the stampede.

"EYYYYAAAA!"

Ichigo, hearing her yell, looks at the stampede and she sees her mother falling.

"NOOOO!"


	6. Run Away and Never Return

Ch. 7: Run Away and Never Return

"Hey do you hear that?" Kish asks after licking the last remains of the wildebeest off his fingers.

Sardon gets a bit cautious as Tart tears off the last bit of meat off the bone before asking with his mouth full, "Hear what? I don't hear anything."

"Exactly." Kish gets up and walks over to the edge. Sardon and Tart get up as well and follow him. They all look over and Kish notes, "The stampede has stopped. Time to leave."

Tart whines, "But I'm still hungry!"

"That's why we have cat on the menu next," Kish reminds. "If she's still alive that is."

After that, they all jump off the edge and start gliding down to the bottom of the gorge, only two of them smirking and chuckling evilly.

When the last of the stampede finally ran through the gorge, it left nothing but dust in the air, hiding away the ground and all that lay upon it. Ichigo climbs back down the rubble and jumps off the edge in desperate search for her mother. Because of the dust, Ichigo coughs when it enters her lungs. Then she calls out, "Mom! Mom, where are you?!" She looks around, trying to make out the shapes of the shadows in the dust and she runs further up when she still can't find her mother.

_Snap_

Ichigo turns around and asks, "Mom?"

But instead, a wildebeest comes running out. Ichigo moves to the side and her eyes follow the animal as it runs pass the now broken tree that helped Ichigo stay alive until her mom came and something in front of it that wasn't there before. As the dust clears up a little more, it doesn't look like rocks. Ichigo gulps because she has a very bad feeling of what it really is. She first took hesitant steps towards it but then her steps got faster until she starts running. When she arrives in front of the broken tree, she sees Sakura lying on the ground with a still body and closed eyes.

"Mom?" Ichigo calls again, her voice pitchy and shaky. She goes to her mother's side and kneels down. She shakes her shoulders and says, "Come on, mom. We have to home." Still Sakura does not stir. She lays there, dead. Realizing this, Ichigo pulls her hands back and tears begin to gather in her eyes. "No…" She stands up and takes a few steps back. "No, you can't be dead! Mom, please get up! MOMMY!"

Then she turns around and she looks for anybody or anything that can help. She even screams, "Help! Somebody! Anybody, please!" But the tears then took over her voice. Her throat feels clogged up and tears leak out of her eyes like a turned on faucet. "…help…"

Ichigo turns around back to Sakura and her body glows pink. She transforms back into her animal form and walks over to her mother's side. She cuddles close to her still chest under her arms and she closes her eyes while the tears continues to fall.

Then a dark shadow comes walking out of the mist of dust. Deep Blue walks very silently towards the grieving child and his dead sister. He looks down at his sister with a blank expression without a hint of sorrow in his eyes. Then he looks at his niece and he sees her tears, without a hint of guilt or compassion in his heart.

"Ichigo," he calls. Ichigo looks up at the sound of her name and she sees Deep Blue standing over them. He looks at his sister with disbelief and confusion. Then he looks at her and asks, "What have you done?"

Ichigo gets away from Sakura's corpse and transforms back into her human form, as the three outcasts rub behind the boulders near them. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I was just…and she tried to save me…It all happened so fast. I…I…" Then her tears clog her throat again and she sobs in her hands.

Running towards them, being as silent as they can, Kish, Sardon, and Tart go flying by. But as Kish dares a look at Ichigo's miserable expression, he stops. He just stops flying and lands on the ground where he is. He stares at Ichigo's crying face and he didn't like it. He didn't want her to cry like that or cry at all. When Sardon and Tart notice that Kish is not with them, they turn around to see Kish staring at the cat princess. They quickly go over to him and pull him away to hide behind a boulder before Deep Blue or Ichigo could see him.

Deep Blue walks closer to Ichigo and kneels before her. He pulls her towards him. "Shh, shh, I know. None of this was ever supposed to happen," he says, his covered in understanding and compassion, feelings which he really does not harbor. Ichigo leans closer to him and continues to cry on his shoulder. Then he says, "But my sister is dead." She looks up at him and he adds, "and if it weren't for you, she would still be alive." Ichigo looks down at the ground with wide eyes.

That's right. It's her fault this happened. This whole thing is her fault.

She hears Deep Blue gasp and he asks, "What would the others back home think of this?"

Ichigo starts to panic. What is she going to do? "What do I do?"

"I want you to do one thing," he tells her. "I want you to run." Ichigo looks at him in surprise and steps back. She needs to run? She looks back at Sakura's corpse, unsure, but Deep Blue tells her, "Run away and never come back. You understand me?"

Ichigo looks at him one last time and she nods. Then she turns around and runs away. She looks over her shoulder to have one final look at her mother's corpse and her uncle before looking forward and running as hard as she could.

Deep Blue stands up and watches Ichigo as she turns at one corner and disappears from his sight. Still he looks towards that direction as three more shadows come out of the dust and there stands Kish, Sardon, and Tart.

"Kill her."

At his commanded, the three outcasts run right pass him, into a sprint and chasing after the young cat princess. As Deep Blue now watches his minions chase after Ichigo, who will soon also be killed, he smirks and he begins to chuckle. Then he couldn't hold it any longer. He bellows out evil laughs and it bounces off the walls of the gorge.

After turning into that corner, Ichigo was led straight for a dead end. She stops and stares up at the rubble hill that's before her. She climb up but there is a higher chance of her falling and breaking her neck. It's tall and very steep. But then she hears growling. She looks over her shoulder and she sees the three outcast cyniclons she remembers from yesterday. They come closing in nice and slow with hungry teeth and greedy eyes. They're gonna eat her, if she doesn't climb up this rumble now.

So she climbs up. She grabs the first rock she can reach and pushes herself up. Seeing her climbing, they gain speed and climb up the wall as wall, saving energy for when they catch her. But despite Tart's and Sardon's eager want to get to the top, Kish is faster. Ichigo reaches the top without injury and tries to get up and run. By the time she stood up and started to run, Kish came up to the top as well.

Kish grabs her ankle and pulls her down to the ground. By the time she flips over and looks up, he's already over her with his hand above her shoulders and his eyes looking directly at her. He licks his lips hungrily, ready to feast on her. She didn't think of pushing him off her like how she does to anyone who tries to pin her down. She only thought of getting away and she did that by using the blinding spell. Compared to how Kish saw her use that spell the last time, he's shocked by the size and brightness of it. Then in pain from how it hurt his eyes. She didn't stop there. Kish only looks away and covers his eyes with one hand. She needs to get up and away from him fast before his brothers come and assist him. She looks at him and tried to think of any way of how she can get him completely off of her. Her eyes found his silver earring and she reaches up to grab it. Then she pulls it off.

"AAAHHH!" he screams in pain. He gets off her this time and Ichigo drops the earring so that she can get up and run for it.

As she runs and Kish is now holding his ear from the pain of getting the earring ripped off him, Sardon and Tart finally come up and they run after Ichigo, passing Kish in the process. After a minute, Kish looks back up and now he's seriously pissed off. His ear continues to bleed but he wants that kitty dead now more than anything. This time as the three of them are chasing her, Tart is in the lead, follow by Sardon and then Kish.

When Ichigo reaches the edge of the top she's at, she stops and looks down to see an even steeper hill and a thorn forest at the bottom. She gasps when she sees this but looks over her shoulder again to see the outcasts coming closer and closer. She doesn't see Kish but Tart and Sardon as just as bad as him. So she jumps and tries running down the hill but keeps tripping and ends up rolling down the hill. Tart, Sardon, and Kish didn't have a problem. They leap off without hesitation and they run down the hill in fast speed, allowing Kish to pass Sardon but with Tart still in the lead.

Ichigo rolls all the way to the bottom of the mountain and at the bottom, is a cliff and Ichigo goes launching off into the thorn forest. She lands inside and she doesn't waste any time looking up to see the outcasts coming closer. She starts running through the forest, some thorns scratching her clothes and tearing her skin. When Tart sees the thorn forest like he just noticed it for the first time, he starts to panic.

"Whoa!" Then he tries to stop but because of gravity and the force of his running, he continues to go until he reaches the edge of the cliff. When he stops completely, Tart lets out a sigh of relief, until Kish bumps into him and comes to a stop, and finally Sardon bumps into him and Tart goes flying off into the forest of thorns. "Aahhh!" he screams, flying through the air. Kish was gonna glare at Sardon for crushing him between Tart but hearing his younger brother's cries causes both of them to look.

Tart didn't have time to save himself by flying, nor did he have the energy. So when he landed, he screams. "AAAHHH!" Kish and Sardon end up seeing Tart jumping up and screaming in terrible pain of the thorns and they both couldn't help themselves. Kish starts laughing like a maniac, holding his sides in the process and Sardon hiding his face behind his hand and laughs. Painfully, Tart pulls himself out of the forest of thorns as he climbs back up the cliff with thorns all over his body. He cries, "Ow! Ooh! Eii!" Sardon and Kish continue to laugh as Tart glares at them and tries to walk away from the edge. But it's even painful to walk.

Kish looks back out towards the field before him and right where the forest of thorns stop, he sees Ichigo running away. "There she goes! She's getting away!"

Tart pulls three thorns at once out of him and tells him, "Then go get her!"

"Hell no!" he answers. "There's no way in hell am I going in that forest and I don't even have enough energy to fly over that distance. Do you want me to come out looking like you? Cactus butt?!"

After plucking out five more thorns and holding them, Tart glares at Kish before throwing the thorns at him. Kish winches as the thorns hit his other cheek. He faces towards where Ichigo is and pulls the thorn out as he watches her run. As a precaution to her, Ichigo looks back over her shoulder and the minute Kish sees her face and her eyes, something pulses inside of him. It was so powerful and so strange that it left him shocked and speechless.

Tart asks, "So what do we do now if none of us is going in after her?"

Sardon looks at Ichigo as well and he answers, "The chances of life out there are very low and if the princess decides to come back, then we will finish our job." After getting all of the thorns out of his body, Tart stands up and walks over to Sardon's side.

"Then we'll eat her?"

He answers, "If the vultures don't eat her first."

Even if he answered differently, Tart giggles and then yells, "DID YOU HEAR THAT, PRINCESS?! IF YOU EVER COME BACK, YOU'RE DINNER!" His voice echoes throughout the fields and rather Ichigo heard him or not, it didn't change the fact that Tart laughs in victory and walks away with Sardon following him. But while they're walking away, Kish is still staring at Ichigo as her body now becomes nothing more than a black spec in the sunset.

"I.." he mumbles, "chi..go?" Then his heard started to hurt. It first felt like it was pounding and he grasped his head because of that pain.

Noticing that he's not following them, Sardon and Tart look behind and they see Kish grasping his head. "Kish!" Tart calls. Then like poof, his pain went away, Kish looks at his brothers and Tart asks, "You okay?"

"Yeah," he answers. "I'm fine." He starts walking towards them and they continue their way to the Mew Mew Lands. But out of deep confusion, Kish dares one last look back at where Ichigo should be but her body is already out of plain sight.

Back at the Mew Mew castle, the workers of the castle and Deep Blue gather around and every single one of them has a sorrowful face on, most of them with tears. Deep Blue did not have any but for those that looked at his eyes, it almost looked like his heart was crying. The moon above them shines like the sun in the dark night. As the stars glitter above, the wind blows, causing many with tears on their faces to cringe in pain of the icy needles that pierce the skin on their faces.

Deep Blue stands before the crowd and announces, as if he were a funeral preacher, "Sakura, my beloved little sister and our queen. Her death today was a tragic accident but to lose Ichigo, her daughter and my adorable niece, who had barely begun to live, is by far the deepest loss my heart has ever felt."

As he speaks, Zakuro looks down at the ground and her eyes are threatening to unleash a waterfall's worth of tears. Still she holds them back. Ryou places a comforting hand on his mother's arm and then he feels Mint leaning on his arm for comfort as tears fall down her face without a care or worry of her pride at all. Ryou uses his free hand to grasp her hand in comfort but his eyes sting as well and a sneak tear escapes his eyes.

Deep Blue continues, "With a heavy and grieving heart, I will assume the throne. But I promise you this, my good people." Behind him a shadow moves. The workers, Zakuro, Ryou, and Mint look up when the saw the movement and they see kirema animas appear. "Out of the ashes of tragedy, we will rise," seeing the kirema animas, everyone gasps in both surprise and some in horror, "with the dawning of a new era. In which we and kirema animas come together in a great and glorious future!"

As everyone notices only the arrive of many kirema animas, Ryou notices something at the corner of his eyes. When he looks up, he sees Kish, Sardon, and Tart sitting on top of the rock steps to the front door of the castle but he notices something. From his experience from last time, Kish is just as energetic as Tart or maybe more. But now, as he sees Tart and Sardon watching them cower at the sight of the kirema animas they created, Kish is leaning against the rock with a slight headache. Tart is smirking at all of them, Sardon looks the same emotionless self as always, and Kish has his hand at his forehead and he holds it in the slight pain in his head.

Far from them but still in eye's view, someone is watching this scene unfold. He watches high up from a tree with a staff in hand besides him. His eyes are wide in disbelief before crunching up in regret and sorrow. His hand goes to his face and he rubs his temples, covering his eyes with his palm in the process.

"I'm sorry, Zakura my dear. I've failed you. I'm so, so sorry."


End file.
